The Black Marksman
by dcalu2001
Summary: Chosen by Kikuoka Seijirou, Takeo Nakano - known as "The Black Marksman" in Gun Gale Online - must investigate the rumors of Death Gun and his killings. As he tries and uncover the truth, he meets a girl, who might have a couple of skeletons in her closet, just like him.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello, and welcome to my newest story, one for Sword Art Online, which is one of my favorite anime to watch, despite how other people don't like it as much. This was something I came up with since I started to rewatch the Phantom Bullet Arc, so I decided to do it and see how good it will do.**

 **What I am doing is pretty much replacing Kirito in the show, for someone who has a bit of a dark past, just like Sinon.**

 **I know that this is going to sound like an OC x Sinon, but I do not care what those people will say. I AM going to continue with this story. Also, since this is going to be something of an AU, I am also going to add OCs that will try and replace Kirito and his friends.**

 **Anyways, time to announce what this story is called:**

 **The Black Marksman.**

 **Since that this is an AU, I also plan on changing some of the events from the Phantom Bullet Arc, so it could be more based around the OC. Also, I want to thank those who are willing to read this story, and for those who might support it as well.**

 **Time to get started.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

Gun Gale Online - 

Gun Gale Online, or GGO for short, is a VRMMORPG that was released in April 2025. Despite the game was created by an American company, people all over the world have played this game, making it one of the most famous VRMMOs since Sword Art Online.

The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, somewhere in the far future, with a massive spaceship being the not only the capital-city, which had the ruins of an ancient city, filled with mutated creatures and autonomous robots below it. This spaceship was called the SBC Glocken, and it was also the starting-point for every new player in GGO. There weren't that many players that would leave the Glocken, however, there was a single player that did leave.

It was rumored that this player was possibly the strongest player in all of GGO since the game was released. But, as his sightings had become less and less, he was nothing more but a mere legend in GGO. However, he was given a title, a title that is still burned into the memories of those who crossed paths with him.

The Black Marksman.

* * *

In one of the bars that was inside the Glocken, dozens of players were currently standing around, looking at a live-stream that was currently taking place. The live-stream was being commentated by a player that was dressed like a cat-girl. Standing next to her, was a blue-haired man, dressed in white and blue armor and sunglasses, and a black-haired man that had a red mohawk, who was dressed in a black and red bodysuit and a black cloak.

These were the top players, XeXeeD (the blue one) and Yamikaze (the red one). XeXeeD was saying,

"Hey, I'm just saying that if 'Agility' is the only stat that matters sounds ridiculous! True, dodging and firing-speed are important, but that's all in the past! I'm gonna be honest with the people who spent all their time trying to boost their 'Agility': Sucks to be you!"

Nearly every player in the bar had started to boo at XeXeeD, obviously angered that some of them were the people who _did_ try and boost 'Agility'.

"As expected from the top player of Gun Gale Online."

"Well, I only get one chance to be on MMO-Stream..."

"So, aren't you aiming for the next Bullet of Bullets?"

"Of course! I plan on proving myself to be GGO's top player - "

XeXeeD didn't exactly finish his statement, for Yamikaze had decided to speak. He looked at the blue-haired player, and simply asked him,

"XeXeeD-san, do you honestly believe that _you_ , someone who depends on status-type and has rare equipment, can call yourself GGO's _top_ player? Because we all know that only the Black Marksman is deserved to be called the - "

XeXeeD had then started to laugh,

"Wow. Just, wow, Yamikaze-san! I didn't expect _you_ , of all people, to believe in urban-legends. And besides, we all know that you're an 'Agility'-Type, so don't try and deny it."

He then stood up, and proclaimed,

"True, the only strategy that you needed was to raise your 'Agility', and then fire a powerful physical weapon as fast as you can. But, MMOs are changing all the time, meaning that you can't reevaluate your stats, so you gotta be smart, and think a few steps ahead."

Everyone in the bar started to mumble themselves. Even though XeXeeD was an absolute prick, he did speak the truth about games like the one they're playing right now. That was when one player, whose entire body was covered by a black cloak, stood up and walked towards the hologram that showed the live-stream. He pulled out a black handgun from within his cloak, chambering a round into the weapon, and aimed it at the image of XeXeeD.

The player spoke, the voice was masculine, yet it was also deep-pitched,

"XeXeeD...False Victor...be judged by true power!"

Those around the player had started to laugh, believing that this was some guy who got scammed into boosting their 'Agility' by XeXeeD as well. As the player shot a round into XeXeeD's face, and simply waited, ignoring the funny-looks he was receiving from the other patrons of the bar.

But, that was when the others noticed something weird had started to happen to XeXeeD.

The player looked like he was choking on something, as he clutched his chest and stumbled back, his avatar immediately disappearing in green light. Both Yamikaze and the commentator was confused to see that happen but the commentator had shrugged it off, believing that the man had lost connection with them. Even though it could've been just that, those inside the bar was shocked to see that happen, and looked at the hooded-player.

The player then aimed his weapon at those near him, allowing them to see that underneath the cloak was a helmet, that looked like a skull with glowing red eyes. That was when the player aimed his gun into the air, and said something that they could never forget.

* * *

 _"This is TRUE POWER! Remember this name...the name that this gun and I share - DEATH GUN!"_

* * *

 _Flashback -_

 _"Damn it, Adrian, please stop!"_

 _"SHUT UP, BITCH!"_

 _A woman's scream was heard as a slap echoed across the room. Said woman was Japanese, with long black hair and dark-brown eyes. Standing in front of that woman, was a man who appeared to be American, and was the person who slapped the woman._

 _Standing in between the two adults was a child, who was actually the son of both the man and the woman._

 _The man then screamed,_

 _"I can't believe you! After all I've done for you! And this is how you repay me!? BY LEAVING!?"_

 _"What choice did I have, Adrian!? You're becoming too unstable! Think of Takeo - "_

 _"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!"_

 _That was when Adrian grabbed his wife by the back of her head, and threw her towards the wall behind her. That was when he knelt down, and grabbed Takeo's face roughly, making the boy look his father directly in the eye. Adrian told him,_

 _"Listen to me, Takeo, that bitch is the fucking reason that all of this is happening! Do you hear me? I said: Do. You. Hear. ME?"_

 _"Y-Yes! Please, Dad, you're - "_

 _"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"_

 _That was when the woman then pulled Adrian away from Takeo, who backed into one of the corners. He whimpered at what was happening in front of him._

 _What he saw next, would haunt him for the rest of his life._

 _His father, had pulled out a gun, and aimed it at his wife, who looked at it with wide-eyes. She turned her gaze towards Takeo, and told him with a sad-smile,_

 _"Everything's going to be okay - !"_

 _BANG!_

 _Takeo watched as his mother just got shot, dying instantly. Adrian looked at his now-dead wife with dead-eyes, and turned his gaze towards Takeo, who started to shake uncontrollably. He was about to walk towards the boy, but stopped when he started to laugh._

 _"T-Takeo...?"_

 _But before Adrian could get closer to Takeo, he was suddenly tackled to the ground by his son, the gun in his hand landing next to him. It was shocking, that someone who was half his size, and young, was able to throw someone like him onto the ground so easily._

 _Adrian shouted,_

 _"T-Takeo! What are you doing!?"_

 _Then, Takeo grabbed the gun, and aimed it at his father's head, laughing like a madman at this point._

* * *

Present Day - 

Tossing and turning in his bed, Takeo - who was now sixteen - suddenly woke up, taking deeps breaths as he tried to forget the nightmare he just had. It was nearly ten years since the last time he had relived that fateful day, and he tried so hard to forget it. He muttered,

"What the fuck...? Why did I dream about _that_ all of a sudden?"

 ** _Well...considering the kind of childhood you had..._**

"Shut up...I'm don't want to hear you be a smart-ass this early in the morning."

 _ **Alright...by the way, you're phone's ringing.**_

Looking to his right, Takeo noticed that his phone was indeed ringing, which was weird, considering that there weren't that many people who had his number. He noticed that the number trying to contact him was unknown, so he simply ignored it. But, as he lied back down, his phone started to ring again, and it was the same number calling him. Knowing that whoever was calling him wouldn't give up, Takeo picked up his phone, and said,

"Hello?"

" _Takeo Nakano. You and I have some things to discuss._ "

"The Hell...? Who is this, and how did you get my number?"

" _I'll explain everything when we meet. Salon de café. A few hours from now._ "

"If you think I'm - "

Before Takeo could finish whatever he was saying, the unknown caller had hung-up on him. Groaning, Takeo got out of bed, and head for the bathroom, thinking about just who exactly this person was, and how he knew his name.

He looked at himself in the bathroom-mirror, and saw his reflection was looking right back at him. He had black hair, like his mother's, which was cut short and had a couple of bangs covering his right eye, but his left eye was brown. He was built like a swimmer, which was clearly shown due to how he was shirtless, only wearing black sweatpants. As he washed his face, he continued to think about what he and this person were about to discuss.

 _ **Something tells me that it's just gonna be some lawyer.**_

"How so?"

 _ **Think about it! It's most likely some lawyer, hired by your family, to discuss about her -**_

"Shut up..."

 _ **Takeo, we both know that those guys will do ANYTHING to make sure that they keep your sister -**_

"I'm serious. Shut it..."

 _ **Not that I can blame them...with me inside your head, they think that we might kill her -**_

"SHUT UP!"

That was when Takeo suddenly glared at his reflection, and saw that his reflection wasn't glaring back at him, instead it was simply smiling at him as if he felt pit for Takeo. He then pushed aside the bangs over his right eye, allowing him to look at the orange eye that was hidden underneath.

Takeo was born with heterochromia, but neither he or his parents exactly knew why or how he was born with an orange eye, since neither of his parents didn't have orange eyes.

He focused on his right eye, and said to his reflection,

"Just...shut up, Hyde."

His reflection, now named Hyde, simply smiled at him.

* * *

 **AN: And that was the first chapter of "The Black Marksman"! Tell me what your thoughts were about this chapter in the reviews.**

 **Anyways, yes, my OC, Takeo Nakano has a split-personality, which I have decided to name "Hyde". From what you could already tell about Takeo, he has done some pretty messed up things in his life, and is now seen as an outcast by his remaining family.**

 **I am pretty sure that there was another anime with a character like so.**

 **Also, if you guys wanna know what Takeo sounds like:**

 _ **Richard Ian Cox - The voice of InuYasha, from InuYasha & Allelujah Haptism from Gundam 00.**_

 **And in the next chapter I am going to have Takeo meet up Kikuoka Seijirou, and talk about Gun Gale Online and Death Gun.**

 **Once again, tell me what you guys think, and I'll be starting on the second chapter now.**

 **See ya later!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello, and welcome to the second chapter of "The Black Marksman"!**

 **I wanna thank those who followed and favored this story, and I hope you guys will continue to do so, and to like it if you are new to this story.**

 **As previously stated, Takeo will be meeting up with Seijirou, and discuss about Death Gun and his murders. Not only that, but I also plan on showing you guys a bit more about Takeo's past, and a small preview of Sinon appearing.**

 **Not only that, but in the third chapter, I plan on showing you guys the firefight Sinon gets herself into, but this time the Black Marksman will be in it.**

 **As I have nothing else to say, time to start the chapter.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

Takeo's Apartment - 

After a few minutes in the shower, Takeo came out of the bathroom, now wearing a pair of dark-blue jeans and a gray shirt.

He then walked towards the living-room, making a mental-note of cleaning the place when he had the time. The couch he was sitting on had some old clothes resting on top of it, and the pillows were all piled-up on one-side of the couch, as if someone would sleep on the couch often. The table in front of him also had a few clothes there, but there was also some plates with leftover food, a couple of water-bottles that were half-empty, and his AmuSphere.

He then looked behind him, which led to the kitchen, where there was only a table and a single chair. The chair also had an old military-jacket hanging on top of it, which belonged to his father when he was still alive and still apart of the military.

As soon as he looked at the jacket, Takeo was reminded of how he would wear it back when he was a kid, and tell his dad that he wanted to be like him one day...

 _ **Why keep the thing, if it'll only remind you of your old man?**_

"It reminds me of what my dad was...before he became that piece of shit."

 _ **Whatever, just sayin'...so, we taking the bike?**_

"What do you think?"

 _ **Hell yeah!**_

After grabbing his dad's jacket, and putting on black sneakers, Takeo walked outside of his apartment, and headed for his motorcycle. He was looking at a matte-black Harley-Davidson V-Rod Muscle, which still made him wonder how he was able to get such a ride. The motorcycle actually belonged to his grandfather - who bought it in America, but then he gave it to his father - who took it with him to Japan, and afterwards it was given to Takeo after...

...Some "unforeseen" events.

Anyways, Takeo put on a black motorcycle helmet, and started the bike, letting the machine rev up a few times before heading to where he was supposed to meet with the mystery-caller. As he drove, he talked to Hyde, only telling his alternate-personality one thing -

"If this is about custody over Haru...don't take over."

 _ **What, why?**_

"I wanna beat the shit out of this lawyer myself."

Inside Takeo's head, Hyde began to laugh a bit, and slowly stated -

 _ **...Well, you made this rendezvous a whole lot more interesting.**_

* * *

Salon de Café - 

"I already regret coming here..."

 _ **I know what you mean...Holy crap, what is up with the old hags?**_

As Takeo walked inside the cafe he was told to go to, he was immediately looking at a bunch of elderly women, who were looking at him as if he was a criminal. Then again, the fact that he looked like he was apart of some sort of gang didn't help his image at all. He then started to scan the building, looking for someone that would look like they're waiting for someone, and then his eyes landed on someone that could fit that description.

He was looking at a middle-aged man, who had brown hair and brown eyes, which were behind glasses, and was dressed in a green suit. That was when the man noticed that Takeo was staring at him, which caused him to suddenly start waving at him, shouting,

"Takeo-san! Come here!"

"You got to be kidding me..."

 ** _I know what you mean, Takeo. This guy is probably a fucking lawyer afterall..._**

Takeo quickly made his way towards the man, sitting in the chair that was in front of the man. After having ordered a coffee, Takeo had looked at the man in front of him, who seemed to have already dropped the friendly-demeanor and looked at Takeo with calculating eyes. That was when he spoke once more,

"Takeo Nakano, my name is Kikuoka Seijirou. I work for the Ministry of Internal Affair's Telecommunications Bureau, Advanced Network Division, Second Office."

"The what...?"

"The 'Virtual' Division. Basically, I helped SAO survivors get back on their feet."

"Good for you...now, how do you know my name?"

That was when Seijirou pulled out a briefcase, and removed a folder that was inside it. After giving it to Takeo, the boy began to read through the contents of the folder, his eyes slowly widened as he began to recognize what he was looking at. Somehow, this bastard had gotten his hands on -

"My medical files..."

"That's right. Takeo Nakano, formerly Takeo Baker, eldest son to Adrian Baker and Aiko Baker, formerly Aiko Nakano, and older brother to Haru Baker, now Haru Nakano. Your father was a former Army Ranger, that was until he got dishonorably discharged for assaulting an officer. He became an alcoholic, and abusive husband and father. That was when one day, your mother tried to leave him, taking you and your sister with her, but when Adrian realized what happened, he killed your mother. And, at that moment, something inside you just...snapped. You murdered your father in cold-blood, and soon you were taken to a mental-facility, for saying that there is a voice in your head. And that voice, is Hyde. Am I forgetting something else?"

 _ **This motherfucker...he has a whole lot of fucking dirt on us. Ain't that a fucking kick to the balls... Now what?**_

"Okay, since you have my medical files, tell me: what is it that you want from me?"

"You play the game: Gun Gale Online, right?"

Takeo, and Hyde, couldn't help but look at this person as if he grew a second head. What did GGO have to do with the situation at hand? Unless there was another madman who trapped players inside GGO, making them all kill each other for their amusement...

"This is not another SAO-incident. Have you heard of a player called 'Death Gun'?"

"No, just who is this player then?"

"Somehow...Death Gun was able to kill players in-game, and in real-life."

* * *

Takeo's P.O.V - 

What?

Wait, what?

Is he actually serious about this? Does he honestly believe that this 'Death Gun' is capable of killing players in-game, and in real life, as well? Pardon my French, but that is a whole lot of bullshit coming out of his mouth. Just how, though? I mean - the very idea of killing in a video game would result in an ACTUAL death is just impossible.

 _ **I don't know, Takeo, but the impossible is just something that hasn't been done yet. After all, there's me!**_

Hyde, he's talking about breaking the third-dimension or some shit like that.

That was when Seijirou noticed the doubt that was on my face, and decided to hand me a tablet. When I looked at the device, I only saw two people, both of which I do not know in the slightest. However, that was when he told me,

"These are the two victims Death Gun was able to get."

"Who are they?"

"The first one, is Shigemura Tamotsu, otherwise known as XeXeeD."

 _ **That arrogant cocksucker got killed IRL? I mean, yeah...the guy was a total prick and all, but still: kinda hard to believe that someone died, claiming that he was the strongest in GGO.**_

Back when I played GGO more often, I once came across the blue-haired douche, who was XeXeeD. At first, I hope to leave before he would recognize me, considering that he had better equipment, which apparently meant that skill was below him. Thus, an ensuing firefight occurred, which resulted in two more squadrons joining in, and they all decided to work together, and try and kill me, hoping to claim the right to become GGO's top player.

Luckily, I managed to survive unscathed, and XeXeeD has been starting to deny my existence ever since.

"The next one, his character-name is...Usujio Tarako?"

 _ **Who...?**_

Yeah...I'm gonna be honest here, I have no idea who that guy was.

"Both died of acute heart failure."

 ** _Hold on, Takeo. Let me try and comprehend the situation: this guy, who apparently works for the government, is talking about a player - Death Gun - who is capable of killing people's avatars in GGO, and the players die in real life...from heart attacks?_**

I know, Hyde. I know...

"Look, I'll admit, this seems weird - maybe even a bit fucked up - but why, do you guys need me...and Hyde?"

"It's kind of obvious, ain't it? I want you, and Hyde, to log back into GGO and track down Death Gun. After all: you are GGO's top player? The Black Marksman?"

I took a moment to process what he just asked me.

Then, I shouted,

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

I didn't care if nearly every person in this fucking building heard me.

I don't care if this man has dirt on me.

"Listen to me, Seijirou, I am not - you hear me? NOT - going to become bait for this psychopath of yours. I'm all that Haru has left, and the same goes for me! Whenever I visit her, she would tell me all the horrible shit our mom's family would do to her. Do you have any idea how fucked up it is to hear that an eleven-year-old girl, gets hit repeatedly, just for saying that she wants to be with her brother? I am not going to die, and let her stay in that household any longer."

 _ **Damn, dude! Calm down!**_

FUCK OFF, HYDE!

"Which is why you can take your offer, and shove it up your - "

"You want Haru in your custody, right?"

Despite just being yelled at, Seijirou looked unfazed. I said,

"...Yeah, what about it?"

"Help me take down Death Gun, and I help you get your sister back. Simple as that."

I looked at him in the eye, trying to see if he was just saying it to get me to help him. But, he was actually serious about helping me get Haru back from those bastards. I grabbed my coffee, and looked into it, seeing my reflection in the beverage. I brushed my bangs to the side, allowing me to see my right eye, and said to Hyde,

"I have to do this, you know that right?"

 ** _'Course I do. Just know that this might end badly. For both of us._**

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Then...I take it we have a deal?"

* * *

Gun Gale Online - 

"Sinon...do you have a shot?"

In the midst of old ruins, and a massive clock tower, was a young girl. This girl was about sixteen-years-old, and happened to have short light-blue hair, and indigo eyes. She was dressed in a military-green jacket, that was revealing the black and white corset-like clothing underneath. She also wore a pair of black short-shorts, black combat-boots, and leggings that were also military-green as well. There was also the white muffler around her neck, and fingerless gloves on her hands.

She was lying on the ground, aiming down the sights of a massive Anti-Material Rifle.

She simply said,

"Affirmative."

* * *

 **AN: And that was the second chapter of "The Black Marksman".**

 **As I have previously stated, I am going to add Takeo to the fight between Sinon and Behemoth. Not only that, but I am also going to reveal Takeo's actual name for GGO, the weapons he uses, and how his avatar looks like, so expect that.**

 **Anyways, I don't have much to say except thank you guys, and tell me what you guys thought about the chapter in the reviews.**

 **See ya later!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hello, and welcome to the third chapter of the story. So far, I can see that this story is slowly getting popular, it's not much but we're still getting there, and I just want to thank you guys for actually liking it.**

 **As I have stated in the last chapter, I decided to have Takeo and Hyde enter GGO, and take on both Behemoth's group and Sinon's group in the firefight they had. This chapter will show you guys how his avatar will look like, what kind of weapons he uses, and his name in GGO. Not only do we get to see those details, but we will also see how both groups, especially Sinon, would react when "The Black Marksman" of GGO returns.**

 **Also, after this chapter, we're gonna show Takeo in his school, and it's gonna be a bit of a shock when you read who's attending that school.**

 **Time to get this chapter started.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

Takeo's Apartment - 

As he entered his apartment, Takeo dropped his helmet on the couch, and plopped himself down on the couch as well. He groaned into his hands, remembering the deal he made with Seijirou, concerning about GGO, Death Gun, and Haru. Before he left, Seijirou told Takeo that he would be playing GGO in a hospital, just to make sure that he wouldn't die on the off-chance that Death Gun was capable of killing him while he was playing the game.

"Fuck my life...just what did I get myself into?"

 _ **Hey. Don't forget that you also got me into this fucking situation. That...and you decided to get ourselves into this situation, because you were told that you could get full-custody of Haru, so you shouldn't exactly be bitchin' at this point.**_

"Fair point..."

Takeo set his feet on the table, one of his feet touching his AmuSphere. He grabbed the device, and looked at it for a few moments, slowly remembering the reason why he played this game.

At first, Takeo didn't want to do anything that was related to violence, hoping that it wouldn't allow Hyde to take control of his body with all the assimilation that surrounded him. But, due to some persuasion, Takeo began to play GGO, realizing that the opposite affect was given to him. Whenever he played the game, Hyde would take over his body, allowing Hyde to kill the avatars of other players, keeping his violent-tendencies to a minimal. So, in a way, GGO was therapeutic for them.

He looked at the AmuSphere for a few more seconds, before standing up, heading for his room.

 _ **Let me guess: gonna kill some players?**_

"Hyde, if we're gonna take down this 'Death Gun', then we have to sharpen our skills."

 _ **Takeo - with the two of us working together, there is no one who can go head-to-head against us.**_

"Except her..."

 _ **Well...she was a sniper, AND we managed to take her down, despite her having the jump on us. Plus, what's the possibility of us meeting her again?**_

Takeo would've agreed with Hyde, if not for the fact that he was already lying on top of his bed, his AmuSphere already set-up. He looked at the ceiling and then closed his eyes, both he and Hyde stating -

"Link Start!"

 _ **Link Start!**_

* * *

Gun Gale Online -

In the middle of nowhere, in a cave, the avatar of a certain player had opened their eyes. The avatar was a pale, sixteen-year-old boy, with short, black hair that had bangs covering his right eye, but his left eye revealed it to be orange.

He looked at his hands, flexing his fingers, and muttered,

"Hyde...you ready to unleash some Hell?"

 ** _Of course I am! Let's see if our gear's still with us._**

Takeo pulled up his menu, and looked at the "Status-Page", making him look at his avatar in Gun Gale Online. His avatar looked exactly like him, the only exception was that now both his eyes were both orange, and there was also the small scar that was on his right cheek. He was dressed in black cargo-pants, which had gray knee-pads, and were also tucked into black combat-boots that had gray fronts. On his upper-body, he was dressed in a black shirt, which was underneath a black-and-gray kevlar vest. He also had a gray pauldron and vambrace on his right arm, while he only had a vambrace on his left forearm, fingerless gloves on both hands, and a tattered shemagh around his neck.

He looked at the word that was on top of his character's head, and muttered the name he chose for GGO.

"Ebele..."

 ** _'Mercy' or 'Kindness'... do you think we deserve either of those two?_**

Hyde did not receive an answer, as Takeo ignored him and went to the "Equipment-Page", and started to look through the weapons he had in his inventory. After a few moments, Takeo selected a few weapons that were used by both Hyde and himself.

On his back, a nickel-plated Mossberg 590, which had a pistol grip, was strapped onto his back. What made this shotgun unique, was how he modified it to have a bayonet attached underneath the barrel. This weapon was mostly used by Hyde. Speaking of which, he said -

 _ **I missed you, 'Precious', did you miss me?**_

In his hands was a matte-black FN SCAR-H, which he had modified to have it fitted with a sniper-stock instead of the stock that an actual SCAR would have. Not only that, but Takeo also equipped a Tactical-ACOG scope, which had a red-dot sight on top of the ACOG. Underneath the barrel was a 40mm grenade-launcher, and attached to the barrel was a compensator, as well as a tactical-flashlight and laser-pointer on both side-rails of the weapon.

"Brings back memories when I first held this bastard in my hands..."

There was also a combat knife strapped to his vest, and two handguns that were holstered onto both of his thighs. The gun on his left-side was a nickel-plated Desert Eagle, which had the barrel ported, and it was also the sidearm for Hyde. The gun on his right-side was an M9 Beretta, which had dark-brown grips, it was also the weapon that Takeo uses whenever he gets into a firefight. He grabbed the Beretta, and looked at it, slowly remembering what this weapon was.

It was the weapon that killed both his mother and father.

 _ **Takeo...don't forget why're we here. It's for your sister, so you need to keep your shit together.**_

"Yeah...you're right."

Takeo then walked out of the cave, and began to wander the wasteland that was in front of him. He just walked around for a few minutes, his finger on the trigger of his SCAR, waiting for something or someone to attack him. That was when he heard the sound of a sniper-rifle firing in the distance. The mere sound made him react, immediately dropping to the ground, aiming his SCAR all over the place, trying to see where the shot came from, only to notice something.

He was a few feet away from a small group of players, one of which got shot in the head, holding a Minimi as he shattered into a bunch of red crystals. He immediately ran towards a rock as cover, and noticed how there was a few players on his other side, realizing that the small group of players were being ambush by the other group.

"Two squadrons, both outnumbering us, outgunning us, and there's a sniper on one-side, which we have no idea is located by the way."

 _ **So...Plan B?**_

"Bingo."

He got on top of the rock that he hid, and fired a 40mm grenade at the group that planned the ambush, killing one of them in the process. Both groups looked at Takeo, some of their eyes widening as they saw who just appeared before them. Takeo looked at all of them, and asked,

"So...are we gonna fight?"

* * *

Sinon's P.O.V - 

No way.

There is no way that _he's_ here!

But the black clothes, the weapons, those eyes, and the scar...

" _...Sinon! Answer me, damn it! Are you seeing this?!_ "

I realized that Dyne was actually talking to me, and I could only confirm his suspicions about who just appeared out of nowhere, and shot a grenade, killing Ginrou instantly. As soon as he revealed himself, I felt my blood boil at the mere sight of him. My eyes narrowing, and my teeth slightly bared as I started to get angry at the sight of the _strongest player_ in all of GGO.

"The Black Marksman."

" _Damn! I thought he just left GGO, but I guess not!_ "

"He's an idiot. It doesn't matter if he's good, he's in between two squadrons, and - NO WAY!"

My eyes widened in shock all of a sudden, as the last person removed his cloak, revealing who he actually was. He was a muscular individual, blonde hair slicked back, wearing tight military-clothing, but that's not what shocked me about this guy.

It was the fact that he had a damn mini-gun in his hands.

The Black Marksman noticed this as well, and immediately ran towards our direction, somehow dodging all of the gunfire that was aimed at him. Not only that, but the players that surrounded the mini-gun user chased after him. Realizing that they were actually heading towards us, Dyne shouted at all of us,

" _FIRE, DAMN IT! THE BLACK MARKSMAN HEADING STRAIGHT FOR US!_ "

* * *

Takeo's P.O.V - 

"HOLY FUCK!"

 _ **HOLY FUCK!**_

This guy had a fucking mini-gun aimed at us! Wasting no time, I jumped off of the rock, and immediately ran towards the opposite direction, managing to dodge every gunshot that was aimed at me from behind. But then I realized that there was gunfire in front of me as well. I mentally judged the two decisions in my head, and decided to go for the lesser-evil and continued to run forward, closing the gap between me and the squadron. At that point, I heard Hyde yelling at me -

 _ **TAKEO! SWITCH WITH ME!**_

Alright then! Try not and get us killed, Hyde!

That was when I allowed Hyde to take control of my body, in which my avatar stumbled a bit, only to balance himself again. My avatar then slicked back his hair, allowing both eyes to be revealed, and his mouth formed into a psychotic smile. Whenever Hyde takes control of my body, it's usually expressed when he slicks back my hair, and an intimidating smile was on my face.

Hyde pulled out the Mossberg, and shouted,

" **Let's go, BITCHES!** "

He got to the nearest one, and tackled him to the ground, shooting the man in the face, killing his avatar instantly. From there, one of the players that chased us grabbed us from behind, using his Optical-Gun to restrain us, but if that wasn't bad enough, one of his buddies got in front of us, ready to kill us. However, that was when the sniper killed him, in which allowed us to see the sniper-glare from afar, that and it allowed us to see the Bullet-Line - Oh crap!

 _Hyde! Move the head to the right!_

As he did so, the sniper fired another round, this time killing the guy that restrained us. We remained prone, quickly avoiding the additional gunfire above our heads. Hyde then stood up, only to hold the Mossberg like some sort-of bat, and smacked a player over the head with it. He then placed his boot over the man's throat, and pulled out the Desert Eagle, killing him with a well-placed bullet to the head. Afterwards, he had to duck behind cover when the mini-gun was shooting in our direction. Hyde yelled,

" **SWITCH!** "

At that point, I regained control of my body, in which my hair was now covering my right eye again. I pulled out the SCAR, and began to fire blindly at the mini-gun user, but it did little to no-good. As I checked what was in front of me, my eyes widened as I saw the sniper running towards me. I muttered,

"No fucking way..."

 _ **What? Is it more players? Death Gun?**_

"No, it's much...MUCH worse than that..."

 _ **What could be worse than - Oh fuck, no.**_

As I ignored the gunfire that was from BOTH directions, I looked at the sniper, the one who somehow gave me the scar on my face awhile back. She was female, obviously, with short light-blue hair and indigo eyes, dressed in clothes that exposed a lot of skin. A monstrosity of a sniper-rifle was on her back, and she ran towards us with a Glock in her hands, regrouping with the remaining players in her squad. I honestly preferred fighting Death Gun than her.

"Hey, Hyde? Remember how you said about the probability of running into _her_ again, and the idea of us deserving any mercy or kindness?"

 _ **Yeah...?**_

"Well...there's no way in HELL Sinon is gonna show either of those two towards us."

* * *

With Sinon and her Squadron - 

As Sinon ran towards cover, with Dyne and the three remaining players of her squad, she noticed that Takeo had finally seen her, his eyes widening as he remembered who she was. Internally, Sinon was grinning quite savagely, filled with joy as the person who humiliated her awhile back remembered her. It would fill her with even more joy if she were to blow his head clean-off, but that would have to wait, considering that there was the mini-gun user, and three surviving players, all equipped with Optical-Guns.

She then had to take into consideration of Takeo, who was not only armed to the teeth, but also managed to kill Ginrou and Jin, and also dodged one of her shots.

Sinon noticed how Takeo was now distracted with the mini-gun user and his squad, and finally came up with a plan to take out not only the remaining players, but possibly Takeo as well. She looked at Dyne, Arashi, and Miso, telling them,

"The Marksman's sudden appearance has thrown ALL of us off-guard, true, but maybe we can use that to our advantage! That mini-gun won't have much ammo, so it'll be a matter of time before he runs out, he knows that, so it's most likely he'll focus on the Marksman. So while that guy with the mini-gun and his teammates focus their attention on him, we'll charge in, taking both them AND the Marksman by surprise! Miso, go left; Dyne and I will go right; and Arashi will stay behind to cover us."

Dyne just looked at her with disbelief, asking her,

"Are you kidding me!? While the mini-gun is the most largest issue to deal with, we have three more players, ready to shoot us, and just like you said - THE Marksman! As if he'll fall for such a plan!"

That was when Dyne suggested of logging-out, which simply pissed Sinon off.

"If you're gonna die...then at least have some balls to accept it head on!"

* * *

With Takeo & Hyde - 

As the barrage of bullets were slowing down, Takeo looked at his SCAR, and asked Hyde,

"Hey Hyde...how much ammo do you think that bastard has left?"

 _ **I don't know...but I'm more concerned about Sinon and that ragtag group of players that are in front of us.**_

"True...if I was in their shoes, I would most likely try a Pincer-Maneuver. That way - "

 ** _Everyone will be shooting in nearly every direction that we're looking at. Have to be honest, this is pretty intense, and - Crap. Takeo, enemies at three and nine!_**

Takeo raised his rifle, realizing that Sinon and her group WERE planning to do a Pincer-Maneuver, with her and some other guy taking the right. That was when he heard three sets of feet running towards him from behind, making him silently swear as he pulled out something from his belt. He quickly said,

"Hyde, as soon as this goes off, be ready to switch."

 _ **Got it!**_

That was when all of a sudden, as if everything had went into slow-motion, Sinon and her group, as well as the three players with the energy-weapons, aimed their weapons at the Marksman and the mini-gun user, only for Takeo to throw something into the air, and screamed,

"SWITCH!"

That was when smoke suddenly enveloped everything and everyone, with all players shouting in confusion as to what was going on. Then they just started to fire rounds and bolts of energy at where Takeo supposedly was, hoping that they managed to kill the infamous Marksman. After a few moments, everyone stopped, and waited for the smoke to clear out, only to realize something that was both shocking and impossible, something that made them on edge.

The Black Marksman had suddenly disappeared.

Then he reappeared, a shotgun and crazy smile on his face, as he screamed,

" **PLAYTIME'S OVER, ASSHOLES!** "

He rushed at the three players with the energy-weapons, slashing one of them in the face with his bayonet, and then stabbed the second one in the stomach, pumping the man's stomach full of lead, causing the body to knock into the third player, making him lose his weapon. Hyde simply laughed as he slid between the last guy's legs, and literally stabbed him in the back, and began to use him as a meat-shield towards Sinon and her group, shouting,

" **COME ON THEN!** "

He threw his meat-shield onto Dyne, who simply shoved him off and began to fire rounds at Hyde, but to no avail. Hyde dropped his weapon, and tackled Dyne onto the ground, pulling out the Desert Eagle, shooting him in the stomach twice, and then emptied the rest of the magazine at Sinon and her team. That was when Sinon suddenly ran to someplace, probably to try and get a better position with that sniper-rifle of her's, leaving the other two with going against Hyde.

" **Well...this is gonna be easy.** "

As he tried to stand up, Dyne grabbed his right arm, making sure that Hyde won't get up, and pulled out a plasma grenade, telling him,

"If this won't kill you...I don't know what will!"

That was when suddenly both Miso and Arashi tackled Hyde onto the ground, trying to stall long enough for the grenade to go off. But, Hyde wasn't going down without a fight, so he managed to elbow one of them in the face, and managed to pull out the knife that was one the kevlar-vest, and used it to cut off Dyne's arm that was keeping him in place. Ignoring the scream of pain from Dyne, Hyde immediately ran away, hitting the ground rather roughly as the three players behind him blew up.

" **Okay...with that just happening, all we have to deal with now is Sinon - who is now missing, so we're ALL fucked - and that fucker with the mini-gun.** "

Speaking of said 'fucker with the mini-gun', he was now shooting everything he had towards Hyde, who was luckily enough behind cover. But, during the fight against six players, he somehow managed to lose most of his weapons, even Takeo was confused as to how that happened. That was when Hyde pulled something from his belt, which happened to be a flashbang. He slowly peeked by behind cover, and said to Takeo,

" **Rush him?** "

 _Rush him. That mini-gun won't do shit in close-quarters._

That was when he threw the flashbang as hard as he could, and waited for the thing to go off. As soon as a pitched-sound was heard across the field, Hyde ran as fast as he could, and got on top of the behemoth of a player, who was actually named 'Behemoth'. He punched Behemoth in the face twice, and then kneed him in the stomach. Behemoth tried to swing the barrels on his weapon like some sort of club, trying to hit Hyde, but to no avail.

Hyde then kicked him in the chest, making him stumble back a bit. He then got on his back, strangling the last enemy, but that was when Behemoth actually dropped his weapon for the first time and threw Hyde over his shoulder with both hands.

As Hyde got up, Behemoth quickly closed the distance between them, kneeing Hyde in the stomach, but swore as Hyde punched him in the nose. However, that was when Hyde tried to kick him, only for Behemoth to grab his leg, and punch him very hard in the stomach. As the breath was knocked out of him, Behemoth grabbed Hyde with both his hands, and hoisted him up into the air, in which Hyde was thrashing about, trying to stop what Behemoth was planning.

" **SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!** "

 _This is gonna hurt like absolute Hell - !_

With an animal-like roar, Behemoth used all of his strength to throw Hyde onto the ground, who at this point was too exhausted to control Takeo's body. Takeo immediately regained control of his body, but that was when he started to feel the pain during the fight, and only groaned as Behemoth walked to his weapon. The blonde-player hoisted his mini-gun and aimed it at Takeo, but before he could mow him down, Behemoth actually spoke,

"It's hard to believe that _you_ are the Black Marksman, the player who held the title of the _strongest player_ in Gun Gale Online. Now _I_ am the strongest in GGO! Any last words... _Ebele_?"

"Yeah...look up, asshole..."

* * *

As soon as he said that phrase, Behemoth instantly realized that he forgot about Sinon, and immediately looked up, and saw the sniper, positioned at the old clock-tower. Wasting no time, he immediately focused on the sniper, shooting all of his remaining ammo at the girl, who actually jumped out of the tower, and was falling towards him. The only damage he was able to do to her was blowing off her left leg, which didn't even faze her, as she leveled her sniper at his head.

When Behemoth's eyes widened in shock at what was about to happen, Sinon smiled, and said,

"The end."

She pulled the trigger, and the round went straight through his head, and Behemoth had exploded into red-crystals, with Sinon somehow landing safely behind him. After a few moments, Sinon remembered that she wasn't alone still, and immediately turned around, only for the barrel of a gun to be aimed at her head.

* * *

Takeo's P.O.V - 

I immediately ran towards Sinon, the only weapon I had left was the M9, and I quickly aimed it at her as she turned around. At this point, we simply remained frozen in place, only the sound of our breathing was heard. That was when I realized just how pissed she was when she was looking at me. And -

Holy shit...

Hyde, is it just me, or did Sinon somehow become much more scarier after the last time we met?

 _ **Yeah...well, she does have the right to be scary, considering the shit that you did to her last time...**_

Hold up, Hyde!

That was not me! You were in control during that time, and YOU were the one who spoke to her! So she's supposed to be made at YOU.

 _ **Hey! You're body, your voice, your fault, bitch!**_

Before I could argue with Hyde even more, I heard Sinon trying to catch my attention,

"...bastard! This was the second time I had you cornered, and you still manage to beat me! So what now, are you gonna finish what you started awhile back?"

"No...after everything that happened today...I'm not gonna kill you. And besides...I needed at least one survivor to tell people that the Black Marksman is back. Not only that...but I plan on competing in the Bullet of Bullets this year...so make sure that everyone hears."

"Ebele...every player who died from this fight, they must've respawned already, and told everyone around them that you're back."

To prove her claim, she pointed behind me, and I saw multiple squadrons, all armed to the teeth.

Bail?

 _ **Bail.**_

And with that, I pulled up my "Menu-Screen" and immediately logged-out, my avatar barely dodging the bullets that were aimed for it.

* * *

Takeo's Apartment - 

As soon as he logged-out, Takeo stood up, and noticed that he somehow got sweaty as he was playing GGO. He went towards the bathroom, and immediately took a shower, hearing Hyde moan in bliss inside his head as warm water hit his body.

 _ **Fuck yes...just what the doctor prescribed...**_

"That...and a lot of medication, remember?"

 _ **Shut up...**_

After a few minutes of showering himself, Takeo returned to his room, dressed in sweatpants and a white tank-top, and threw himself onto his bed. He then told Hyde,

"Tomorrow we have school...and most likely I'm gonna get questioned by Eiji as to why I logged back into GGO and why I didn't tell him about it."

 _ **Well...it's not like you're gonna walk into Sinon IRL, right?**_

"Don't jinx us, damn it."

* * *

 **AN: And that was the third chapter of the story!**

 **Tell me what you guys thought about the chapter in the reviews, while I try and explain somethings about this chapter.**

 **Anyways, yes, Takeo carries four guns on him whenever he plays GGO, two for himself and two Hyde. There are other weapons he have, but I am not sure if I should show more weapons that he can wield or not as the story progresses.**

 **Another thing is probably the name for his character: "Ebele".** **From what I could tell, the name either means "mercy" or "kindness", something that he believes that he doesn't deserve, considering the kind of childhood he had.**

 **Also, I decided to have Takeo go to the same school with Sinon.**

 **See ya later!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hello, and welcome to the fourth chapter of "The Black Marksman"!**

 **I just want to thank you guys for slowly liking this story, despite the show not being so good to some folks.**

 **After this chapter, I have return to my BNHA stories, which you guys should check out if you watch My Hero Academia. Also, I have decided on doing another story once I do a full cycle of the stories that I need to update.**

 **As I said in the last chapter, this is going to be mostly based around Takeo in his school, which also happens to be the same school that Sinon, or Shino in IRL, goes too. That, and I also decided to do something that may seem a bit funny to me. Anyways, I plan on showing you guys how Takeo Hyde are like in school, and maybe some other things as well. Also, I plan revealing some friends of Takeo, who also happen to play GGO as well, who also know that Takeo is the Black Marksman.**

 **I have nothing else to say, so it's time to get this chapter started then.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

Takeo's Apartment - 

It was the crack of dawn, and an alarm was blaring throughout Takeo's room. Groaning, the boy rose one arm, and began to search for the alarm, swearing under his breath as he kept missing the alarm. That was when Hyde decided to take over, and brushed his entire arm against the drawer, knocking the alarm from its place, effectively turning it off.

 _ **Fuck...why do we have to...wake up at dawn?**_

"Hyde...do you know how...long it takes to get to the school? Now, come on, let's go."

After doing their normal routine every day - waking up, taking a shower, putting on the uniform, and then eating breakfast - Takeo and Hyde went out the door, only to be greeted by one of their neighbors. Their neighbor happened to be a girl about Takeo's age. She was shorter than him by a few inches, with dark hair, which were short twin-tails, and dark eyes that were behind half-rimmed glasses. She was also dressed in a school-uniform, which just happened to belong to his school.

That was when Takeo greeted her,

"Asada-san..."

"Nakano-san..."

The two teens didn't actually knew each other very well, all they knew about each other was that they lived the same apartment-complex, they went to the same school, and they used the same train-station to get there. They just simply nodded to each other, and made their way to the train-station.

The train-ride to their school was just as silent and awkward as their walk towards the station.

"So...how was your night?"

"It was...eventful. And yours?"

"It was also eventful."

 _ **This is probably the most saddest attempt at talking to a girl I have ever witnessed.**_

"Shut up..."

"Excuse me?"

Takeo immediately stiffened as he turned towards Asada, who had a small glare on her face. Takeo immediately apologized, trying to find an excuse as to what just happened, but Asada simply turned away. Inside his head, Hyde was laughing at Takeo. He honestly forgot to mentally talk to Hyde whenever they were outside. Ever since Takeo and Hyde began to talk to one another, people around Takeo looked at him funny, wondering as to why he was talking to himself in quiet mumbling.

* * *

At Takeo Asada's School - 

Oddly enough, the name of the school the two attended was never known, even to them.

Anyways, the two went their separate ways, going through their daily routines.

But, both Takeo and Asada were honestly going to deal with the same bullshit they have to put up with everyday since they came to that school.

Asada was a target to bullies, considering her background. Apparently, she had some sort of fear towards guns, the reason why was unknown, but a group of girls decided to torment her with that.

Then there was Takeo...

* * *

A group of bullies were in the middle of harrasing this under classmate of their school. They were doing the stereotypical thing, like messing with his books, threatening him, and even went far as to shove the guy around.

That was until Takeo walked towards them, and told them,

"Leave the kid alone."

"Why should we listen to you?"

The group simply sneered at Takeo, who at this point gave them a deadpan look. He then groaned into his hands as he started to look around the hallway they were in. That was when he slicked back his hair, and a vicious smile formed on his face.

Next thing the leader of the group knew was he was suddenly very close to Takeo's face, but it was his right eye that really caught his attention. That was when Takeo opened his mouth,

" **Or I might end up breakin' your legs. Now, due me a favor, and piss off?** "

The group immediately got scared, and ran away from Takeo, who allowed Hyde to take over his body. But, the kid he was helping our also ran away, saying,

"Don't hurt me!"

" **Damn wuss...saved his ass, and we're the bad guy.** "

That's right, when Takeo is in school, people are afraid of him. It's mostly due to how Hyde takes over his body, scaring bullies, and other people as well. But, there are a few acceptances when it came to people.

"Hey! Takeo!"

The boy that heard his name being called turned around, and immediately smiled. He was looking at someone that was shorter than him and a bit overweight. He also had dark brown hair and brown eyes, which were behind black-rimmed glasses.

Meet Eiji Kobayashi, one of the two people that are Takeo's friends. As well as the only other person that knows Takeo is the Black Marksman in GGO.

"Eiji!"

"Dude! Why didn't you tell me that you returned to GGO!?"

"Because I knew you would act like this if you did."

"I can't - we're supposed to be - THIS. Is not over!"

"Get Akio after school, and meet at the usual spot?"

"Yes!"

* * *

After school - 

Akio Akabane.

He's your stereotypical dream guy in high school, dating simulators. He had light brown hair, which he dyed the tips blonde, and eyes that were like coffee. He was nearly a genius in academics, a beast in sports, and who knows what else.

So it would make sense that he would be the type of guy that nearly every girl in his school wants to get with.

But there was one thing that was a major turn-off about him.

It was his friends: Takeo Nakano and Eiji Kobayashi.

One was a criminal, and the other was an absolute otaku, so yeah...Akio was loved/hated among the rest of his peers.

"Akabane-kun!"

"Why're you hanging out with _those_ guys?"

"Yeah! Don't you wanna hang with us?"

Those were some of the pleads he heard with as soon as girls in his class followed him outside. He simply told them,

"Unlike most people, those guys are good people. Even Takeo..."

He then left the girls quickly, joining up with his two friends.

"Takeo! Eiji!"

"How you doing, AK?"

"AK" was the nickname for Akio, considering how his first and last name started with "Ak" - thus "AK" was what he was called. That was when the three started to walk towards his coffee shop, in which Akio told both his friends,

"I got Gun Gale Online!"

"What?!"

Both Takeo and Eiji were shocked to hear this for two reasons. The first was that Akio actually bought a VRMMORPG, and the other was the fact that he bought a game, where a killer was on the lose.

"Dude...are you sure you wanna play that game? I mean, you have heard of Death Gun right?"

"Come on, guys! Ever since you told me about GGO, I have been dying to play this! And besides - ain't Takeo super good at the game?"

Eiji suddenly remembered something, and immediately glared at Takeo, exclaiming,

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT YOU WENT BACK!?"

"Look...the reason why I didn't tell you was - "

"Hey! It's some guys at out school!"

Takeo and Eiji turned towards the entrance, in which Asada and some boy, who was Kyouji Shinkawa, who greeted them in return. The two got their orders rather quickly, and immediately sat near a table next to them.

Not wanting to let everyone in the building know what he does in his personal-life, Takeo told his friends in a quiet voice,

"Apparently...if I helped in the investigation with Death Gun, I could Haru back."

Both his friendships ds looked at him with concerned looks. They knew that Takeo fought so hard to get custody over his little sister. That was when Akio said,

"It just gives me more reason to learn how to play! To help you with this thing! Right, Eiji?"

"Right! We aren't going to leave you out to dry. We're helping, nothing can change that, alright?"

"T-thanks, guys..."

Takeo was honestly touched that these guys would go so far for him. That was when he said,

"Alright then, if you're gonna help me, might as well teach you the basics of GGO, AK."

That was when the three friends raised their mugs, and clinked them against one another.

* * *

 **AN: That was the fourth chapter of the story. I am sorry for how long this took, I am working on my phone afterall.**

 **Anyways, as you can see, both Takeo and Sinon live next to each other in the same apartment. I did this, mostly because I found it funny about the idea of the one guy of who Sinon hates the kost lives next to her.**

 **Anyways, I am gonna do a full cycle of the stories I have so far, probably do this twice or so, and then do a new story or stories with summer nearly here for me.**

 **Also, tell me what you guys thought about the chapter in the reviews.**

 **See ya later!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hello, and welcome to the fifth chapter of The Black Marksman!**

 **I wish to apologize for not updating, for my laptop wasn't working and that I am back in school, but I am still working on this story. Just know that I don't have a consistent schedule as to when I am going to update.**

 **Anyways, as I was going through the reviews, I couldn't help but think about some ideas for this story. One of you guys asked me to have Takeo be introduced to Kirito, which I will do at some point, probably right after Death Gun appears. Also, I am still wondering if I should do this, but I might plan on adding the characters from Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online later on into the story.**

 **Not only that, but I might also blend the story with Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet as well, mainly because I am currently playing it.**

 **Now that I have said everything that I might do to the story, time I tell you guys what will happen in this chapter. Basically, it's like this: Takeo and his friends will go to GGO, a day BEFORE the Bullet of Bullets signups begin. Also, do know that I will make small moment between Takeo and Sinon IRL as well, considering that this is the episode where Sinon's backstory is revealed, but from Takeo's POV obviously.**

 **Now, it's time to start the chapter.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

Takeo's Apartment - 

After Takeo, Eiji, and Akio had decided to all join up for the B.o.B (Bullet of Bullets), the three had immediately went back to their homes, getting into GGO as soon as they can. While both Takeo and Eiji were seasoned players, Akio was a newbie, with Gun Gale Online being his first VRMMORPG. It was obvious that he was at a disadvantage, so his friends decided to start playing as soon as possible, showing Akio the ropes before the competition starts.

As soon as he got home, Takeo grabbed his AmuSphere and lay down on the couch. He placed on the headgear, and spoke,

"You ready, Hyde?"

 _ **Of course I am! Now let's go!**_

"Link Start!"

 _ **Link Start!**_

That was when all his other senses began to fade away, and transported himself to Virtual Reality.

* * *

The SBC Glocken - 

Standing near the market-area of the Glocken, was an adult male, who seemed to be about average height, and slightly overweight. The avatar had OD-Green hair which was high-and-tight, and dark-blue eyes. He was dressed in a black, sleeveless shirt, camouflage cargo-pants, which were tucked into black combat boots, and a bandolier of bullets was on his chest. If another player were to walk past this person, then they would've seen the avatar's name - Kong.

This was Eiji Kobayashi's avatar in Gun Gale Online.

Before leaving, Eiji had told the others that they would meet at the market-area, which seemed like an appropriate place for a newbie like Akio to start. It has been only a few minutes before Eiji saw someone's avatar walking towards him, which reminded him of someone he knew IRL.

"Ebele! You finally made it? What's with the getup?"

Standing before him was none other than Takeo, whose avatar had to change his attire a bit so none of the other players would recognize him. While he had his cargo-pants and boots, Takeo was now wearing a black sweater with a gray jacket on top, as well as a pair of glasses and a black cap.

"In case you've forgotten, Kong, I'm technically the most wanted player on GGO. If people know that I'm here, than they'll try something."

 _ **Still...even I think that the disguise is a bit much.**_

"Dude, the Glocken is a safe-zone, players can't - "

"Guys! Is that you?"

Both Eiji and Takeo turned around, and noticed that a player was running towards them. Dressed in an all-green military uniform, a young man with a blonde ponytail with brown tips and dark-blue eyes were running towards the two of them. Even though they knew that it was Akio controlling that avatar, they couldn't help but look at the name he chose for himself, and then to amusingly roll their eyes at what they saw. On top of Akio's avatar were two simple letters -

"'AK'?"

"Seriously, dude?"

"What? Not that many people know my nickname, so I figured: 'Why not?' and rolled with it."

"Okay then, you completed the tutorial, right?"

When both Eiji and Takeo started GGO, the two had completed the tutorial for two reasons. The first reason was kinda obvious: to know how this world works, the kind of weapons GGO had to offer, and which weapons are effective against other players. The second reason, however, was because that once finishing the tutorial, the player is given enough XP to level up certain stats of theirs.

Both were pleased to see Akio nodding, and then tried to pull up his Stats-Screen, which was entertaining to see as Akio had difficulty bringing it up. By the time that Akio did bring out his Stats-Screen, Takeo had taken a look at the stats he increased, only to regret doing so.

"AK, why...why did you do this to yourself?"

 _ **Holy shit...he actually did it...**_

"What? What is it?"

 _ **IS HE ACTUALLY UNAWARE OF WHAT HE JUST DID?!**_

"What is it?! Not even an HOUR and you fucked up your stats already!"

"I did not!"

"Kong! Look at his stats!"

Eiji did so, his reaction was similar to Takeo's, as he looked at Akio with disbelief. After a few moments of shocked silence, Eiji finally said,

"Why did you put most of your points in to 'Luck'?"

"What's wrong with that!?"

"'Luck' is useful, yeah...but that's only to increase the probability of drops, dude! And since you're new to GGO, you'll have the starting amount of credits, so pretty much you need to either delete this account and create a new one, or - hey! Where are you going!?"

Akio, for some reason unknown to him, had walked towards an alleyway, with Takeo and Eiji quickly following him, wondering what has gotten into him. The three looked at the alleyway, expecting something to appear in front of them, but that was until Akio walked towards the dumpster that was there, and climbed in. His friends looked dumbfounded as he did this, and were about to pull him out of there, if it wasn't for the fact that Akio immediately got out of the dumpster, holding onto a medium-sized box in his hands. Takeo and Eiji were surprised to see Akio finding a drop already, but it was weird considering that they were still in the Glocken, and that it led Akio to a dumpster.

However, before they could question the mechanics of 'Luck' in the game, Akio opened the box, and a screen popped up in front of him. Takeo and Eiji looked at the screen as well, and that was when all three, four if Hyde was included, spoke at the same time.

"No way..."

"I am _so_ glad I put those points in 'Luck'..."

"I feel like a fucking douche right about now..."

 _ **Well...don't we feel like idiots now, right, Takeo?**_

The screen that appeared in front of Akio pretty much held not only a shitload of credits, but also a shitload of XP as well. From the looks of it, Akio had enough XP to increase a few certain stats of his, and enough money to but his own gear.

When the three walked into the gun-shop, Akio had the biggest, shit-eating grin on his face.

* * *

Later - 

With his stats now making him a Strength/Dexterity build, Akio was now looking over the various weapons that were in front of him, also admiring his new threads that he got.

No longer wearing the green military uniform, and was now wearing navy-blue fatigues that wear tucked into brown boots, on his upper-body was a black, skintight shirt with brown tactical gloves on his hands, and a navy-blue cap on top of his head.

After a couple of minutes, Akio turned to both Takeo and Eiji, who were also browsing through the shop's inventory, and asked them,

"Hey guys? Which gun did you say that might suit me?"

"Since you're a Strength/Dexterity build, it might be best you have an assault rifle, or probably an SMG, and you may also need a sidearm. Not only that, but since Dexterity allows you to set traps for enemy-players, I suggest getting some landmines as well, considering that the maps are big enough to set a couple of traps."

"Alright then. Also - didn't you guys once told me that my nickname came from a real-life weapon?"

"Yeah, why do you - Really, dude?"

Takeo couldn't help but laugh a little as he saw the gun that Akio held in his hands, which was none other than the AK-47. Then Akio looked over the various handguns, and decided to go with the MP-443 Grach handgun, as well as going with Eiji's advice of buying a bunch of landmines. After buying all of his equipment, Akio was then being led towards the shooting-range, where he was gonna be tested his accuracy with the new weapons he has.

Takeo, once again, laughed as soon as he saw Akio land on his ass after emptying the entire magazine, all shots missing the target. Eiji helped his friend back on his feet, and noticed that Takeo grabbed his AK, putting a fresh magazine into it. He said,

"First of all: you gotta spread your feet a bit, you won't fall on your ass like right now. Then: make sure your finger is OFF the trigger before aiming at your target, at that point - fire in small bursts, so you could have some stability when firing. Once you find your target, have the butt of your stock resting against your shoulder, so that way most of the kickback from the AK would be absorbed by doing so. Finally: inhale slowly, and squeeze the trigger."

That was when Takeo began to fire the AK, doing what he had just summarized, and each bullet was hitting the target with impressive accuracy. Akio couldn't help but look at his friend in awe, and then asked him,

"Dude! That was amazing! How do you know all about guns and stuff?"

Takeo's eyes widened, wincing as he repeated the words his own father told him when it came to handling firearms. He never actually held any guns, instead, his father just told him what to do, and Takeo absorbed all that information like a sponge.

"My...dad, he taught me some things before he..."

"Oh...shit, man, I am so sorry."

Akio couldn't help but look at the floor in shame, remembering what happened between Takeo and his father. Akio's mother was a police officer, and she was one of the many officers that were inside Takeo's old home, horrified to see the body of Adrian, and a young Takeo, covered in his father's blood. When he learned that he was going to the same school with him, Akio befriended Takeo, especially since not that many people had approached Takeo.

Takeo looked at the gun in his hands, and then gave it back to Akio, then turned towards Eiji, saying,

"You mind teaching AK everything he needs to know before tomorrow? I'm just gonna...logout early."

"Sure...just, try and relax, okay?"

"Yeah..."

And with that, Takeo logged-out of GGO.

* * *

Takeo's Apartment - 

As soon as he came back to his senses, Takeo removed the AmuSphere, placing it on the coffee-table in front of him. He took in a deep breath, and then exhaled loudly as he looked at his father's army jacket, that had been hanging off of the chair in the kitchen. He looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember all the good times he had with father, only to swear under his breath as he couldn't remember that many fond memories of Adrian Baker.

"Fuck...what the hell? His death didn't affect me this much back then...so why now?"

 _ **I don't know, Takeo... I don't know.**_

Takeo looked out the window, noticing that it got dark all of a sudden. He stood up, prepared to eat something before heading to bed, only to stop and listen closely to someone screaming. Even though the walls were thick, he could still faintly hear the screaming, the voice familiar to him. He realized that it was Shino Asada screaming, which caused him to run out of his apartment, and pound his fist against her door.

"Asada-san? Are you alright? I heard screaming."

 ** _She was screaming, Takeo. I'm pretty sure that means that she's NOT alright._**

He waited a few minutes, until the door finally opened, and Asada stood in front of him, looking paler than usual, and muttered,

"Nakano-san...?"

* * *

Shino's P.O.V - 

After coming out of the bathroom, and carefully putting the fake-gun back in the drawer, I heard someone knocking on my front door. It must've been one of my neighbors, wondering as to why I was screaming, in the middle of the night. That was when I heard a familiar voice -

"Asada-san? Are you alright? I heard screaming."

Nakano?

I walked up to the door and opened it, seeing Nakano standing in front of me. Even though he was my neighbor, I wondered why he still check up on me. I wasn't blind, or deaf, to the stories that surround him at school. I heard that he was the kind of person that would threaten bullies, even resorting to violence to get them to stop. Even though many people saw him as another delinquent, there were others who saw him as just a guy trying to help out those who couldn't help themselves.

People who weren't strong enough...

He was about to say something, if not for the fact that he started to blush a bit, and then looked away, making me confused as he did. That was when he gestured to myself, which I finally realized that I was still only wearing the shirt of my uniform. I felt my own face heat up as well, making me use the door as a way to cover most of my body from him. After a few seconds, I asked him,

"Did you need something?"

"Well...I heard screaming. And I wondered...are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah...just had...to relive old memories."

"I understand..."

No. You don't understand, Nakano. As if you know what _I_ went through _that day..._

"So...is everything okay now?"

"Yeah..."

That was when I heard him starting to walk back to his apartment. Normally, that would've been it, but as I watched him walk away, I couldn't help but ask him something. It was something that I didn't understand ever since the two of us realized that we lived in the same building, going to the same school. I faintly whispered,

"Why...?"

"W-what, Asada-san?"

He turned around, and walked up to me again. Seeing that there was no going back, I asked him,

"If you help people at school: then why is it that you don't help me every time I get bullied by those bitches that're after Akabane!"

At that point, Nakano just looked at me, stunned that not only did I raise my voice, but that I also cussed out the ones that constantly torment me ever since I got to that school.

"I mean, I hear all these rumors about you. How you take on bullies that're messing with others. Not only that, but every time that you do that, the people you defend don't even thank you! They just look at you like some sort of freak! And you STILL continue to help them out! So why...why is it that you won't help me? Am I just that weak to you?"

I was looking at the ground, tears threatening to come out of my eyes.

I was waiting for him to agree with me, about how weak I was that he didn't even bother to help me. But that was when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked up seeing Nakano in front of me, placing one of his hands on my shoulder. He told me,

"I knew that you had people messing with you at school...and yeah, I knew that I could've helped. But...I always believed that you were strong enough to stand-up for yourself."

He...he believes that I'm strong?

"H-How...? How can I be strong, if I let those people get to me?"

"The fact that you still come to school everyday, despite all that, shows that you're strong enough to not let anything get to you..."

That was when he started to walk back to his apartment, but before he actually got inside, he said one last thing to me,

"Even if you think that you're not strong, know that...know that I'll still think you're strong, okay?"

"Okay...and thanks, Takeo."

"Anytime...Shino."

After that, the both of us went back to our apartments, where I kept thinking about what he told me. The way that he sounded so sure of himself...I couldn't help but let the pink tinge on my cheeks to darken even more as I buried my head in my pillow.

* * *

 **AN: That was the fifth chapter of The Black Marksman!**

 **Tell me guys what you thought about the chapter in the reviews. Now, for the next chapter, I am planning on showing you guys a bit of the prelims for the Bullet of Bullets, up to the point where Death-Gun will meet Takeo. Considering that Death-Gun was apart of SAO in the anime, and that he tried to see if Kirito was indeed the same Kirito from before, I'm gonna do something a little different for the conversation he'll have with Takeo.**

 **Anyways, I am going to make two new stories, so it may take some time before I'll update the story again.**

 **See ya later!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello, and welcome to the sixth chapter of "The Black Marksman"!**

 **I just wanna apologize for the delay, considering that I have a lot on my mind and on my schedule. I also want to thank you guys for not giving up on this story, and I hope that you guys might be able to help this story grow as it progresses.**

 **Anyways, I'm not sure if I told you guys this, but for this story, whenever Takeo and other players aren't in GGO, I'll refer to them by their real names. But, whenever they are in GGO, that is when I'll refer to them by their handles. If this confuses you, I apologize and try to remember each character's actual name and their user handle.**

 **In this chapter, it will be based on the episode where Kirito met Death Gun. However, to make sure that the chapter is not entirely like the episode, I decided to do some things differently from the episode for the chapter. For starters, I've decided to add an OC that'll replace the nurse that was assigned to taking care of Kirito. Not only that, but I've also decided that Sinon will arrive at the sign-ups on time, considering that Kirito wasn't in GGO to ask her for help.**

 **However, I plan on keeping a certain scene that happened between Kirito and Sinon, only Kirito will be replaced by Takeo.**

 **Also, in this chapter, it will obviously show Death Gun, who is somehow connected to Takeo. Because of this connection, it will deeply affect Takeo, which is kinda bad news, considering that Takeo has a split-personality: Hyde.**

 **Time to get this chapter started.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

Hospital - 

Takeo looked at the hospital-room he was inside, eyeing the hospital-bed and the machinery that surrounded it, with unease as it reminded him of his childhood. After he killed his father, Takeo was admitted to a hospital - where he was restrained to a bed, unable to cope with the "voice" inside his head. It took nearly two years for Takeo to get used to living with the "voice", who he decided to call "Hyde" after a film. Though he wasn't alone for the entire process.

The door behind him opened, and a feminine voice spoke to him,

"Hey, Takeo, it's been a while, huh?"

Takeo turned around, and a small smile formed on his lips, as he slowly walked up to the person who entered the room. The person was a young woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties, with short, black hair and brown eyes that were similar to Takeo's. While she was dressed like any other nurse Takeo had seen before, he was quite familiar with this person.

That was when the two embraced into a hug, Takeo whispering,

"Thanks for being here, Akemi."

"Are you kidding me? I'll always help out family."

Akemi Nakano is Takeo's cousin, from his mother's side. She is the daughter of Aiko's older sister, Chiho, as well as Takeo's personal caretaker back when he was young. In fact, Akemi had volunteered herself to take care of Takeo when she learned what happened to him and her aunt. Out of everyone from his mother's side of the family, it was only Akemi that Takeo seemed to like, which could be said the same for Akemi. Unlike her mother, Akemi actually gave a crap about Takeo and didn't ostracize him from everyone else.

"How's Hyde doing?"

 _ **Tell her that I'm doing fine.**_

"He's doing fine."

"That's good to hear."

Akemi is also one of the few people that knows Hyde is actually real; not even Eiji or Akio knew of Hyde. Apart from Takeo himself and his cousin Akemi, as well as Kikuoka Seijirou, the only other person who knew that Hyde was actually sentient was Takeo's doctor.

Anyways, as Takeo took off his shirt and lie on top of the hospital-bed, Akemi helped her cousin getting the various machines hooked up to him. At that point, Akemi gave Takeo the thumbs-up, indicating that she could see all his vitals, which appeared to be normal. Seeing that there's no time to waste, Takeo was about to place his AmuSphere over his head, but Akemi softly grabbed his wrist, causing him to look at her, who had a sad expression on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just...this 'Death Gun' sounds dangerous. I can't believe that these people chose _you_ to stop him."

"Neither can I, but if I do this - I get Haru back."

"I know...just good luck, okay?"

Akemi then leaned forward, kissing her cousin on the forehead.

Takeo placed the AmuSphere over his head and asked Hyde,

"You ready?"

 _ **You're damn right I am!**_

"Link Start!"

 _ **Link Start!**_

* * *

Gun Gale Online - 

Waiting near the Governor's Office, both Kong and AK were discussing a plan that they recently came up with. Despite saying that they would enter the Bullet of Bullets with Takeo, they both knew that there might be a possibility that not all of them were gonna get in. Which is why they both agreed that if they can't get in, the least they can do is make sure that Takeo is participating in the B.o.B.

"...and what happens if either of us is facing against Tak - I mean Ebele?"

"We throw the match, but to avoid suspicion, let the match draw out, and at the end let Ebele kill you."

"Got it."

Before they could discuss their plans even further, Ebele's voice called out to them. Both Kong and AK turned to greet their friend, who was dressed in his normal combat gear, walking towards them. Kong gave him a fist-bump, and asked him,

"What happened to keeping a 'low-profile'?"

"This is the Bullet of Bullets, whether I like it or not - people will recognize me instantly."

"True... So, are you ready?"

"Definitely."

 _ **What are we waiting for!? Let's kick some ass!**_

Without another word, the three players walked into the Office, and were immediately the center-of-attention. Technically, it was only Ebele that had everyone's attention, as nearly all the players present began to murmur with one another as they saw him. Some of the players were shocked to see him, some were excited to take him on, and the rest were naturally scared of Ebele, as they still remembered the kind of skills Ebele had back when he frequented GGO.

Ebele was the first to finish registering for the tournament, and quickly headed for the waiting-room below him. However, Ebele immediately regretted his decision as he saw how there were even more players in the waiting-room than in the Governor's Office. Not only that, but Ebele noticed how a certain number of players slowly pulled out their firearms, chambered a round, and aimed their guns at Ebele, who was more-or-less ignoring the group for he was in the middle of an argument with Hyde.

 _ **What're you waiting for? Let's fuck 'em up!**_

 _No. We gotta be smart, if we pullout our weapons now, then Death Gun might come up with a plan to kill us before we kill him._

 ** _Fine... So what now?_**

 _Find a private-room, and try to regroup with Kong and AK._

That being said, Ebele made his way towards the nearest private-room, not knowing if someone was inside or not.

* * *

Sinon's P.O.V. - 

This is it.

The Bullet of Bullets!

After signing-up without any trouble, I had plenty of time in my hands, so I decided to head to the waiting-room. Nothing much happened, but the only issue I had as I waited for the preliminaries to begin was the constant stream of male-players trying to flirt with me. Not only that, but apparently each player here thought that pulling out their weapons was supposed to make them badass, but all that did for me was come up with ways to take them all down with my Hecate.

...But after the next player tried his luck, I decided to head to a private-room.

Anyways, a few minutes had passed and I figured it was time for me to get ready. I stood in the middle of the private-room, and pulled up my "Inventory-Page", changing out of my casual clothing into my combat gear. After pressing a few buttons, a flash of light surrounded my body, and I was suddenly in my black bra and panties.

...Before I forget, this is not how I usually act.

GOT IT?

However, before I could change into my combat gear, the door opened and someone walked in.

"Hey!"

"Sorry! I was just - Shit."

Wait a minute - I know whose voice that was. As that feeling of dread and horror slowly grew, I managed to get a clear view of just who walked in on me changing. Standing in front of me was a male-avatar, that happened to look about my age, with black hair and orange eyes. He was dressed in all-black combat gear, and his face was an odd mixture of shock, embarrassment, and for some reason fear. But, what truly caught my attention was the scar he had on his right cheek.

The very scar I gave him...

The Black Marksman.

...

...

...

The Black Marksman just walked in on me changing, and here we are, both our faces a very deep shade of red. I was about to equip my Hecate, and shove the barrel up his ass, but before I could do so, Ebele managed to say something at last.

"...Fuck me."

I then remembered the fact that I was half-naked in front of him.

"You pervert!"

SLAP!

* * *

Third P.O.V. - 

After a few minutes, both Ebele and Sinon walked out of the private-room, both their faces still red, and a hand-shaped mark was seen on Ebele's face. Unknown to Sinon, Ebele was talking with Hyde, who was laughing the moment they saw Sinon in her underwear.

 _ **HAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT WAS THE GREATEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!**_

 _...Hyde. Please, do me a favor - and shut the fuck up._

Even though neither player spoke to each other, they couldn't ignore the silent whispering of the other players. As it turns out, some other players saw both Sinon and Ebele walk out of the private-room together, and began to start rumors of how Sinon and Ebele were in a rather 'intimate' relationship. Neither Sinon or Ebele could understand how such a rumor could've started, but all they knew was that they weren't going to get involved in that mess.

Ebele noticed that both Kong and AK were in a booth, waving him over.

As he was about to walk towards his friends, he felt something grab his shoulder, and he turned around to see Sinon, who was grabbing onto his shoulder. The sniper looked at him with a determined look, and pointed a finger at him.

"Don't die before we have a chance to fight, Ebele."

"I'm not planning on dying, Sinon."

On that note, they both went their separate ways, with Ebele sitting next to Kong and in front of AK. As he sat down, AK leaned forward, and with a shit-eating grin on his face, he asked Ebele about Sinon. Kong was trying his best to hide his laughter, because he knew of the history Ebele and Sinon had in-game. Ebele groaned into his hands, and was about to swear at AK, only for the sound of gunfire to fill the room, signaling that the preliminaries were about to start.

Ebele looked at his friends, and silent words of good luck were traded among them, and Ebele suddenly disappeared from his friends.

* * *

Jungle Ruins - 

As Ebele spawned in the middle of the ruins, he immediately hid behind a pillar, and pulled out his SCAR. He slowly leaned his head out and checked to see if he could find his opponent. After a few moments, Ebele ran out of cover, and made a dash towards the trees in front of him, only to stop as soon as bullets were fired at him. Ebele pulled out a smoke-grenade, and threw it at his feet, allowing him to dive onto the ground, wincing as he saw the bullets soar above his head.

"Shit!"

 _ **The bastard must be camping near the edge of the ruins.**_

"Ghillie?"

 _ **Maybe. As soon as the smoke runs out, use the grenade-launcher.**_

"Got it!"

As the continuous spray of bullets continued, Ebele loaded a 40mm grenade into the launcher, and waited for the smoke to disappear. As the smoke the disappeared, Ebele immediately rolled to his left, and fire the launcher, watching as a small part of the grass blew up. Not only did that happen, his enemy - who was holding a G3A3 - stood up, and began to run-and-gun. Ebele quickly got to his feet, and mimicked his opponent, switching to both his M9 and Desert Eagle as he heard his SCAR run out of ammo.

Ebele grimaced as he felt random bullets hitting him, but none were enough to cause critical damage. His opponent reloaded his rifle, and suddenly made a left turn, which caused him to run towards Ebele. Hyde saw this and knew what he was doing.

 _ **He's planning to cut us off!**_

"Switch!"

Hyde was now in control, and holstered both handguns, running towards his opponent with the Mossberg. When the gap between the two players closed, Hyde managed to grab the barrel of the rifle, and pushed it upwards, and aimed the shotgun at his opponent's abdomen. Realizing what was about to happen, his opponent was about to go for his sidearm, but that was when Hyde pulled the trigger, and a large chunk of the player's stomach was ripped apart, throwing back the player.

With a psychotic grin, Hyde slowly walked up to the wounded player, and jammed the barrel into his mouth. He smiled,

"I'm back~"

With the squeeze of the trigger, the opponent's head blew up.

Ebele had won the first round of the preliminaries.

* * *

Waiting-Room - 

After his first match, Ebele was now standing in front of screen, watching the other matches taking place. So far, Sinon was able to her match pretty easily, considering that she had a monster of firearm by her side. Not only that, but he was surprised to learn that both Kong and AK were able to do well in their matches as well. Kong was known to carry an M249-SAW and mow down anyone who was unlucky enough to get in front of that barrel. AK, despite being an absolute noob in GGO, was able to lure his opponent into the traps he'd set up.

"...Okay, so far so good..."

 _ **Uh...Takeo?**_

"What?"

 _ **Look behind us.**_

Listening to the voice in his head, Ebele turned around, and was face-to-face with an unknown avatar. This man was shrouded in a black cloak, the only thing Ebele was able to make-out was a pair of glowing red eyes. The mysterious player lifted his bandaged-hand, which made Ebele jump a bit, almost going for his gun, but stopped when the player pulled up an "Info-Page" and presented it to Ebele. Ebele realized that it was his own information that the player looked up.

"...You are...The Black Marksman."

"Everyone knows who I am. But the real question is...Who the Hell are you?"

"I think you already know the answer..."

 _ **Death Gun.**_

Before Ebele could do anything to the player-killer, Death Gun leaned forward, and whispered something into Ebele's ear.

"Tell me...how are you, Nakano-san?"

That was when the world around Ebele suddenly went quiet, the only thing that Ebele could hear was the autonomous breathing that came from Death Gun. Inside his head, Hyde was also freaking out, wondering how he knew Takeo's actual name from the real-world. That was when Ebele reclaimed his senses, and with a snarl he was about go for his Beretta, but stopped when Death Gun pulled out his own handgun. With weapon still trained on Ebele, Death Gun mentioned,

"I know all about you...you would've made an excellent member..."

Death Gun slowly walked away, but Ebele grabbed his arm rather forcefully, and growled,

"Member...? A member of what?!"

The only response Ebele received was Death Gun tugging his arm away from Ebele. As he continued to walk away, Death Gun removed some of the bandages that covered his forearm, and showed something to Ebele. The exposed flesh showed a tattoo, that gave off a creepy feeling whenever Ebele looked at it.

 _ **A black coffin...that's smiling at us?**_

 _No...that coffin is_ laughing _at us._

* * *

 **AN: And that was the sixth chapter of The Black Marksman!**

 **Tell me what you guys thought in the reviews.**

 **Anyways, I just want to apologize for how long this chapter took, because not only did I experience a writer's block, I also had a busy schedule, so I didn't have enough free-time to actually update this story. Also, in the reviews, I read how someone assumed that this story was discontinued.**

 **Let me assure you: It's not.**

 **Even though it'll take long for my stories to be updated, just know that I will update my stories no matter what.**

 **Now for the seventh chapter, I plan on showing the fight between Sinon and Takeo, and after that I plan on showing Kirito around the end. The reason why I decide to have Kirito in the next chapter is because I want him to have a conversation with Takeo about Death Gun.**

 **Also, if you guys don't find this chapter satisfying, I apologize, because I had to somewhat rush the whole thing.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hello, and welcome to the seventh chapter of The Black Marksman!**

 **I apologize for how long it took for this chapter to be uploaded, just know that I was really busy with schoolwork; which will end in about two weeks, because I am graduating. With that being said, I will try and have more free time in order to update my stories.**

 **Now to recap from the last chapter: Takeo and Hyde go into GGO and sign up for the Bullet of Bullets, in order to track down Death Gun. With their reappearance of the Black Marksman, Death Gun finds them first, and Takeo was about to act, but stopped when he realized how Death Gun knew his actual name. With Death Gun knowing the true identity of the Black Marksman, the only thing that either Takeo or Hyde could truly remember about him was his tattoo.**

 **The tattoo of a Laughing Coffin.**

 **Anyways, now that you guys remembered what happened last chapter, here's what's going to happen in this chapter. I plan on showing a bit of Akio and Eiji's matches in the B.o.B., in which both friends will notice how Takeo is acting after his first meeting with Death Gun. After that, Takeo will act the same Kirito did when Death Gun recognized him - going absolutely ballistic on any player unlucky enough to be against him.**

 **Also, Takeo and Hyde will have some sort of argument, which might affect the firefight with Sinon - do know that the fight between Sinon and Ebele will be similar to the fight between Kirito and Sinon. Finally, in the real world, Takeo will report his findings to Kikuoka Seijirou and meet a certain someone.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

AK's Match - 

In the middle of some sort of jungle, AK was hauling ass while he was dodging gunfire behind him. Even though he promised to help Ebele in any way he can, AK was still a noob in GGO, so he wasn't really prepared when it came to a firefight with someone.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

No longer hoping for his opponent to run out of bullets, AK pulled out his AK-47 and began to fire the weapon over his left shoulder. As he fired the AK, he also turned his head to the left so he could aim as he ran, only to trip against a very big rock. Because of the suddenness of the event, AK accidentally dropped his weapon, and swore as he felt bullets rip right through his avatar, his HP dropping at a rather alarming speed. No longer able to fight, AK decided to do something risky.

"Let's hope this works..."

He pulled out his sidearm, only for the weapon to be shot out of his hands; more bullets were aimed at his knees. Now forced to kneel, AK grimaced as he saw his opponent slowly walking towards him, reloading his Remington R5 RGP. AK had made sure to keep his eyes on his opponent, hoping that his opponent wouldn't notice the tripwire that was merely inches from his boots.

His opponent decided to brag,

"Sorry, kid, but this is the end of the line."

"Yeah...I figured as much."

"Next time, play a game that - "

AK's opponent wasn't able to finish his sentence as he finally activated the tripwire trap AK planted at the beginning of the match. As soon as his boot made contact with the wire, two explosions from either his left or right had simply evaporated his opponent. Despite it being a rather cheap way of winning, AK pumped his fist a bit, glad that he didn't die on his first match.

Within a few seconds, Akio's avatar was dissolved in a bright light, signaling the end of the match.

* * *

Kong's Match - 

Inside an abandoned office building, a man carrying an MP7 submachine gun was quickly clearing out each room he came across. A few minutes prior, he saw Kong - who saw him as well - and the two were in the middle of a heated firefight, both players taking some damage.

After a few minutes, Kong's opponent threw a smoke grenade and made a mad-dash towards the office building, in which Kong followed.

His opponent believed that Kong wouldn't be able to use his M249-SAW in such an enclosed space, so he quickly ran through each room; hoping to finish his opponent very quickly. However, when he was at the top floor, he heard the sound of a round being chambered into a weapon, which was heard from the floor below him. Realizing what that meant, Kong's opponent ran as he saw bullets coming out of the floor, some of them missing him and hit the ceiling instead.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Kong, who was on the floor below his opponent, smirked as he began to unload everything he had at his opponent. Unknown to most players, Kong actually decided to put some of his Skill-Points into Dexterity, only because doing so allowed him to gain a skill that would allow him to see through walls and other objects.

Returning back to the fight, Kong noticed how his opponent was heading towards an open room, in which Kong got an idea.

He stopped firing, and ran towards the room his opponent would stop at, and as his opponent stop and reloaded his weapon, Kong began to create a circle around his opponent with bullets. Just as Kong hoped, the bullet holes that encircled his opponent caused him to fall from the ceiling. Somewhat fazed, Kong's opponent widened his eyes in realization as he knew what was about to happen next. In a desperate attempt, he held his hands up and shouted,

"Wait! Wait! Wait!"

Sadly, Kong ignored his pleas and spent the remaining ammo in his SAW into the body of his already dead opponent.

Withing a few seconds, Eiji's avatar was dissolved in a bright light, signaling the end of the match.

* * *

Waiting Room - 

"Kong! How did you do on your match?"

"Destroyed the S.O.B.; you?"

"Blew his ass up!"

Both AK and Kong high-fived each other, congratulating each other for their victories in the preliminary rounds of the B.o.B. Unknown to either player, Sinon had also won her first match and was trying to find Spiegel - Kyouji Shinkawa, possibly her only friend IRL - but to no avail. She was about to continue her search for him, only to stop and notice Ebele sitting by himself in a booth. Under normal circumstances, Sinon would've ignored such a thing, but something bothered her.

It was the look that Ebele had on his face - it was a look of absolute fear.

Much similar to the look she had on _that day..._

She didn't knew why, but Sinon felt herself walk towards him, as did AK and Kong; who noticed the weird look their friend had on his face. As the three got close to Ebele, Kong was the first to try and put one of his hands on his shoulders, only for Ebele to forcefully grab Kong's wrist and growl like a wild dog. Shocked by the sudden outburst, AK got in between his two friends, telling Ebele,

"Dude! It's okay! Just breathe."

"Sorry...I...I don't know what has gotten into me."

 _ **I can give you a hint, Takeo - it's motherfucking Death Gun!**_

Ebele then placed both hands on his face, trying to calm himself after his meeting with Death Gun. The key-word was 'trying', because Takeo was about to shutdown entirely, while Hyde was to busy cussing up a storm, wondering how exactly Death Gun knew their real identity. Both Takeo and Hyde tried to come up with a list of potential people from their past that might've been Death Gun, only to realize that none of the people they could come up with didn't have Gun Gale Online at the time, nor did they have the motive to become Death Gun.

The only thing that either could tell from him was the tattoo Death Gun sported.

A Laughing Coffin...

 _ **Let's tell the government-fuck about the tattoo; see if he could come up with anything.**_

Ebele nodded his head to what Hyde was saying, somewhat ignoring what AK or Kong was telling him now. Even though Hyde was trying to calm him down, Takeo still feared about how Death Gun knew him personally. Because if Death Gun truly knew him, then that meant Death Gun might know the people that he was associated with.

Akio.

Eiji.

Shino.

Akemi.

Haru.

The thought of Death Gun going after any of them, because of him, made Takeo tremble even more; not only did the thought cause him to tremble even harder, it caused Takeo to hyperventilate all of a sudden, shocking both of his friends.

It also shocked Sinon, who didn't leave the trio. She had no idea why she cared, but when she saw the look that Ebele had on his face, it reminded her of herself from that day...

That was when she knelt in front of Ebele, and grabbed his hands with her own, whispering,

"What's wrong?"

Before she could get an answer, a bright light surrounded Ebele, the three players in front of him realizing that it was the next set of matches for the preliminaries starting. Before Ebele was completely consumed by the light, he looked up at the three players in front of him one last time before disappearing. That was when lights surrounded AK, Kong, and Sinon as well, both AK and Kong immediately discussing what had just happened to their friend.

"What was that?"

"I don't know...and something tells me that it was something big."

* * *

Takeo's P.O.V. - 

As soon as I left the waiting room, I found myself standing alone in a black background, the only thing in front of me was a massive screen with a timer counting down. As the timer was starting to reach to zero, I began to have a small conversation with Hyde.

"Hey...Hyde?"

 _ **What is it, Takeo? Match is about to -**_

"Let me keep control for a bit."

 _ **...What?**_

"You heard me. I want full control of Ebele until we get to the finals."

 _ **Takeo, I get that Death Gun got the drop on us; but that doesn't mean that we should do something hasty -**_

"Hyde...just please, let me have this."

 _ **...Fine.**_

That was when the timer finally reached zero, and the black background around me was replaced with a battlefield in the countryside. As soon as I spawned in, I found myself standing in the remains of what were possibly buildings. Due to how the foundations and some portions of wall were still standing, it looked like a maze in my opinion. I pulled out my SCAR from my back, chambering a round into my weapon as I stood still and observed the area.

Suddenly, a hail of bullets were fired towards me, and I simply stood there; ignoring Hyde's warnings to take cover as soon as the Bullet-Lines were seen. Most of the bullets had missed me entirely, hitting the ground around me - except for one bullet hitting my shoulder. My grip tightened around my weapon, and that was when I suddenly screamed in unbridled rage, a look similar of a wild animal was visible on my face as I began to fire a hail of bullets of my own towards the enemy.

 _ **Takeo! What the fuck!?**_

I didn't even bother to aim down the sights, as my finger was still on the trigger, only letting go to reload my weapon as I began to ran.

 _ **Dude! Seriously! Stop!**_

As I got closer to my opponent, I noticed that some of the bullets being fired towards me were actually hitting me. I looked at my health, noticing how I was steadily losing more of it as I began taking more hits.

 _ **THIS IS A FUCKING GAME, DAMN IT!**_

That's right, Hyde, this is a game...that means I can't die in here.

 _ **T-Takeo...? You're scaring me, man...**_

As I heard my SCAR run out of ammo, I tried to grab another magazine, only to realize that I was already out of ammo for my rifle. But, that didn't stop me before as I fired a grenade from the launcher, throwing my enemy in front of me. As soon as he got up, I dropped the SCAR, and pulled out my knife. Without any hesitation, I immediately ran towards him, and began to stab my knife into his abdomen and then his throat, the two attacks instantly killing him.

As he turned into shards, he muttered,

"M-monster..."

He wasn't wrong...I am a monster.

* * *

A Few Matches Later - 

After some time had pass, the preliminaries were at the finals, the two remaining players were none other than Ebele and Sinon.

While Sinon easily picked off her opponents with her Hecate, Ebele was the opposite as he charged in and faced his opponents head on. Kong and AK, however, were eliminated before they could get the minimum number of victories to enter the B.o.B. While it was obvious that AK wouldn't get far into the preliminaries, his opponent was actually pretty strong - a masked player who carried a shotgun and specialized in parkour, his username was "Pale Rider". Kong's opponent was none other than Yamikaze, who basically ran circles around him, before riddling Kong's avatar with bullets from his submachine-gun.

There was some time before the final round, and both Ebele and Sinon were doing their own things.

Sinon was talking with Spiegel, but that was when she would occasionally glance towards Ebele, who was being bombarded with questions by both AK and Kong.

"Dude, seriously, what the Hell is going on with you?"

"What do you mean? I'm a shoe-in to participate in the B.o.B."

"We're talking about how you fight like you're on a fucking suicide run!"

"It's...complicated."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Can we just...can we just talk about this later? Please?"

"...Fine. Just try and calm yourself, alright?"

"Alright...thanks, by the way. For caring and all that other, sappy stuff."

That was when Takeo and Hyde were once again by themselves, Hyde starting up another conversation about their final opponent.

 _ **We're up against Sinon, huh?**_

"Looks like it."

 _ **What's our plan - ?**_

"Go in. Overpower her. Kill her. Simple as that."

 _ **Takeo...why not let me take control -**_

"No. I said I want to be in control for a bit."

 _ **And I get that - I do! - but this isn't fucking healthy anymore!**_

"You know what else isn't healthy? Talking to a fucking voice in my head, but guess what? That's what you are! So stop talking to me like we're damn partners!"

 _ **...**_

"H-Hyde?"

 _ **...**_

Before Takeo could try and talk to Hyde one more time, a ball of light surrounded him, and then he disappeared.

* * *

Highway Bridge - 

As soon as both Ebele and Sinon spawned on opposite sides of the highway, they immediately moved. Ebele took cover behind a car, as he was more focused on trying to talk to Hyde again rather than the actual match itself. For as long as he could remember, Hyde always talked to him, even when the two would have some major arguments in the past. But the argument they had beforehand, Takeo knew it was different than their previous ones.

"Hyde...I know I said something messed up, but now is not the time to give me the 'Silent Treatment', okay?"

 _ **...**_

"Fine...looks like I have to finish this match by myself then."

That was when Ebele came out of cover, and slowly walked towards the only possible place that Sinon would use as a sniper's nest.

* * *

With Sinon - 

Lying on her stomach, Sinon shouldered her Hecate as she scanned the area in the second-level of a double-decker bus. As she looked around, trying to see if she could get a clear shot on Ebele, she began to think to herself about how Ebele would fight her.

 _Looking back to our previous fights, Ebele would always use a smoke-grenade to cover himself while advancing to a different position. Not only that, but he also has that grenade-launcher of his, which would basically end me as soon as he gets a clear shot. Then there's the Mossberg he carries, but there's no way that he would take me head on while I have Hecate - and the Bullet Line - on my side. So all I have to do is make sure that I end him before he could take me out at long range._

While Sinon waited, her mind wandered a bit, wondering as to why she wanted to beat the Black Marksman so badly.

Was it because he humiliated her in the past?

Was it because he was the strongest player in GGO?

Or was it because...Ebele reminded her of herself?

Realizing that she was just over-complicating things regarding Ebele, Sinon shook her head, erasing all thoughts from her mind and returned her focus to the match, only to see something that was shocking not only to herself, but to everyone watching.

Ebele was walking towards her. He wasn't running, he simply walked. His posture was lax, and his finger was off the trigger as he walked towards the bus.

 _D-Does he think he can_ dodge _one of_ my _bullets? At this range?_

Sinon's expression immediately became that of anger, as she realized how Ebele looked like he didn't care about the match he was in. Due to the sudden anger, the Bullet Circle that Sinon had was rapidly growing and shrinking, unable to get a grip on her nerves, Sinon shouted,

"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!"

That was when she squeezed the trigger.

The bullet whizzed past Ebele, instead hitting the car behind him, triggering an explosion that didn't faze him as he continued forward. Which each step, Sinon continued to fire round after round at Ebele, only for each bullet to miss its target completely. Sinon finally had enough, as she grabbed her rifle and got out of the bus, and ran towards Ebele, stopping as she was a few feet in front of him, and held the Hecate at her hip, glaring at the Black Marksman.

"What are you waiting for!? Fight me!"

"..."

"What? You think that I'm not worth the effort?!"

"...No, fighting you...it has no purpose. Besides, I'm preserving my strength for someone else - "

"THEN WHAT'RE YOU WAITING FOR!? KILL YOURSELF SO YOU COULD TAKE ON WHOEVER'S IN YOUR WAY!"

Ebele was trying to get in a word, only to realize that Sinon was starting to cry a bit, tears threatening to come out of her eyes. She continued her rant,

"So what if this is just a game to you? Because this isn't a game to me!"

That was when something within Ebele made him remember why he started to play Gun Gale Online again. Defeat Death Gun, and he can have his little sister back into his life. Even before he was given that deal, GGO was something he used to help control Hyde, it even helped him develop a bond with the alternate-personality. So, in some way, Takeo knew what Sinon was saying; he didn't know what happened to her to treat GGO more than a game - but he knew what she meant.

Besides...he promised her a fight, didn't he?

But before he could do that...

* * *

Sinon's P.O.V. - 

WHAM!

As I was in the middle of my emotional-breakdown, Ebele suddenly punched himself in the face. I stopped talking, all anger and frustration leaving my body as it was replaced with confusion, unsure as to why Ebele would do such a thing. After the punch, Ebele stumbled a bit, only to regain his footing and began to mutter something under his breath.

I wasn't sure what he was saying, but when I saw him talk to himself, I saw Nakano-san for some reason.

That was when he looked at me again, and actually apologized,

"I'm sorry, I just...I get what you're saying - about how this is more than just a game."

What?

How could he possibly understand what I'm thinking?

...Unless, something similar happened to him?

"Besides...I owe you a match didn't I?"

That was when he pulled out his Beretta, and removed a bullet from its magazine. He holstered his pistol again, and he said,

"This is a duel. Once this bullet drops, we fire. You...still have ammo, right?"

"Yeah...I have one more shot."

"Good. Get ready."

As he prepared to throw the bullet into the air, I aimed down the scope of my Hecate. A small part of me was glad that Ebele was finally over whatever was bugging, but the rest of me had to focus once that bullet hits the ground. Despite having a duel right now, I can't help but wonder what he's planning - I mean: he's using a 9mm handgun and he'll be unable to see the Bullet Line from my Hecate at this range. Still, I shouldn't take him lightly because of that.

Maybe I should fire at his right shoulder, not only would it stop him from drawing his gun, but it would also guarantee me the win.

Then I saw the bullet being tossed into the air, and we waited for it to touch the ground - my finger on the trigger, and his hand hovering above his Beretta. It would take seconds for the bullet to meet the ground, but it seemed longer for either of us.

That was when I heard the bullet hit the ground.

* * *

Third P.O.V. - 

Sinon was the first one to react, the bullet escaping the barrel of her Hecate, and already heading towards Ebele's right shoulder.

The young sniper thought that the duel would be her victory, only to have her eyes widen in shock as she saw Ebele shift his body to the left, the bullet missing its target. Realizing that she wasted her last round, Ebele immediately ran towards her, Beretta pulled out with his finger on the trigger.

"No way!"

Sinon, still shocked by how he dodged the bullet, took a few steps back, trying to pull out her Glock. However, she accidentally tripped over her own feet, and was about to fall back, only for Ebele to close the gap between them, his arm around her waist, the barrel of his gun pointed at her. Both players looked each other in the eye, and Sinon wanted to know about something.

"How...how did you know I was aiming for your shoulder?"

 _ **Maybe because I told you about it, partner~?**_

 _Shut it, Hyde. I figured it out as well._

Before the start of their duel, and after punching himself in the face, Takeo heard Hyde's voice in his head again. That single punch alone was enough for Hyde to recognize that the Takeo he grew up with was back, and no longer the whiny bitch he dealt with awhile back. That was when Ebele spoke,

"It was simple - your eyes gave you away. I noticed how they shifted to the left."

Sinon was shocked to hear the explanation given to her.

She knew to have that kind of perception went beyond the laws of VR games, but if he was able to do something like that before, she just had to know -

"Then...what was it that made you afraid after the first match? With strength like that?"

"..."

"Tell me...how can I get that kind of strength?"

"...Have you ever been scared before? Scared that you, or someone you love, will die? And the only thing to stop it from happening was to pull the trigger?"

Sinon's eyes widened as she realized that the same thing that happened to her, also happened to Ebele. She saw him holster his pistol, and Ebele brought her in closer as he continued to talk,

"Because...I had to pull the trigger - once. Ever since that day, I had to live with the guilt of _his_ blood on _my_ hands. Even now...I rely on someone else to give me strength."

 _ **Takeo...**_

"What you saw...that wasn't strength."

Sinon unknowingly dropped her sidearm, and raised her hand to cup it against his face, only for Ebele to show her a small smile.

"It's alright, I've learned to live with it. And besides..."

That was when she noticed that the smile on his face got bigger and cheekier.

"...I won the duel, didn't I?"

Sinon looked down, seeing how his arm was wrapped around her waist, and how close their bodies were to one another. Realizing what kind of position they were in, Sinon blushed heavily as she pulled away from the Black Marksman, who was laughing a bit. As she pulled out the menu to surrender, she looked up at Ebele with a small glare on her face, declaring,

"When we fight in the Bullet of Bullets - I'll win for sure!"

"Just know I won't die so easily."

Anyways, as soon as she was about to surrender the match, Sinon heard Ebele call out to her.

"Wait! To answer your question about acquiring strength...it helps when you think about who you're fighting for."

"Who I'm...fighting for?"

That was when Shino thought about the kind of people she would fight for. Obviously, it would be her family, but then there were the other people besides them. The small collection of friends she had, Shinkawa, Nakano-san, and - wait.

...

...

...

 _Why did I think of Nakano as one of the people I'd fight for!?_

Then, without another word, Sinon had surrendered the match, ignoring the odd look Ebele had on his face when he saw her blush even more.

And with that - the preliminaries for the B.o.B. were finally over, and with that, the real fight would begin soon enough.

* * *

In the Real World - 

_**Holy shit...what a night.**_

"I know...Akemi nearly killed me when she saw my heart rate spiking all of a sudden."

 _ **And let's not forget how Akabane and Koboyashi nearly lost their shit when you told them about Death Gun knowing you personally.**_

"Don't remind me..."

 _ **Hey, we've managed to kick the ass of any motherfucker who had the balls to come at us. Why would some masked fucker be any different? I mean true, the dude is basically an unknown, cyber murderer, with an impossible way of killing people IRL, who knows you -**_

"I'm sorry: but when are you going to tell me the upside?"

 _ **The 'upside' is that he's not up against you - he's up against us. Right, partner?**_

"You're right...partner."

 _ **With that out of the way - why are we here? Again?**_

Takeo had to hold in a groan, trying his best not to let the glares of elderly women get to him as he sat in the cafe he met Seijirou. Apparently, ever since he told him about the 'Laughing Coffin' tattoo, Takeo was told to meet him back in the cafe to discuss more about it.

So here he was, sitting in front of the man who basically hired him to deal with Death Gun. However, the two individuals didn't speak to each other, because apparently Seijirou said -

"Due to the tattoo you found on Death Gun, I had to call in some favors to bring in someone else that could help with the case."

"What? Like a specialist or something?"

"Let's go with 'or something', because - ah! Here he is! Hey! We're over here!"

Once again, Seijirou became every patron's center of attention as the man yelled at someone to sit with him and Takeo - who was trying his best to avoid any attention. That was when he heard the sound of the chair next to him being pulled out, and someone sitting on it.

Takeo turned to look at the newcomer, only to realize that the newcomer was around his age. Takeo was looking at a teenage boy, who was slightly more skinnier than him, with black hair and black eyes as well. Actually, everything about the boy next him was 'black' - he was dressed in a black, leather jacket, black pants, and black boots. The boy looked at him in return, only to look at Seijirou, and accused him,

"Really? This is the guy you had go to GGO?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Because I can hold my own in a fight, compared to you."

"Oh yeah?"

"What? You got something to - !"

"Enough! Both of you!"

That was when the two teenage boys looked at each other with one last glare before placing their attention towards the man in front of them. That was when they both said in perfect unison,

"Who's this guy?"

"Takeo, I would like you to meet Kirito - "

'Kirito' immediately shushed the man, and quickly stated,

"Don't call me that! It's Kazuto Kirigaya!"

" - And he's the guy that'll help us with Laughing Coffin."

* * *

 **AN: That was the seventh chapter of the story, please leave your thoughts in the review.**

 **I am so, so, SO sorry that this took longer than expected to update! I mean, I was out of school for nearly 2 - 3 weeks, and I basically did nothing for the entire time! I know I said that I plan on updating my stories, but I got lazy at some point.**

 **Anyways, I'll continue to try updating my stories now, and let me now explain some stuff about what will happen in the next chapter.**

 **Basically, both Takeo and Kirito will learn more about each other in the next chapter - and I do plan on the having some sort of rivalry with each other as the story progresses. Now, after the two talk about their next move with Death Gun, I plan on doing stuff that is completely different from the canon-series. Now, I am pretty sure that the B.o.B. will take place a day after the preliminaries, but I plan on adding some additional events that will slightly delay it.**

 **Just know at some point, MMO-Stream will came a comeback in this story.**

 **Anyways, that's all I have now.**

 **See ya later!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hello and welcome to the eight chapter of "The Black Marksman"!**

 **I apologize for how long it has been since the last chapter, the reason why is that I was busy with college work, so I didn't have much time to focus on any of my stories. Also, I want to thank you guys for sticking with this story, and for some of you even saying that you wanted me to continue this story. With that said, know that I don't intend on dropping this story, but I still won't be able to work on an actual schedule for any story I have.**

 **Starting off from where I last left off, Takeo panics when Death Gun realizes who he is in-real-life, nearly going off the deep-end because of so. Thankfully, both Sinon and Hyde manage to remind Takeo what he should focus on, and comes back to his senses.**

 **And, at the ending of the seventh chapter, Takeo meets Kazuto Kirigaya: Kirito.**

 **As a reminder, both Takeo and Kirito were a bit unfriendly to each other, which is something that I might continue with later chapters. Also, know that Kirito won't have that much of an influence in this story, considering that he would be the "Laughing Coffin Specialist" for this arc. I might also plan to show a bit more of Takeo x Sinon in this chapter, possibly have the two interact in a more deeper level, with the possibility of either character revealing a bit of their pasts to the other.**

 **The reason why I am stressing that part if due to how one of you guys still assume that Sinon is going to be a part of Kirito's "harem". As I constantly stated, and hinted at through this story, Sinon is being paired up with Takeo. I'm not sure why that person would assume Sinon is going to be with Kirito, considering that he's not the main character of this story. Also, just know that I might do some pairing of the OC's I made for this story with some of the characters that are actually canon, this is something that I'm contemplating.**

 **Anyways, it's time for me to start the chapter.**

 **HERE WE GO!**

* * *

Salon De Café - 

Sitting in front of Kazuto Kirigaya, or 'Kirito', Takeo looks at him with a skeptical expression. He didn't believe that the scrawny kid was the 'specialist' that Seijirou had mentioned. From the looks of it, Kirito was unimpressed by Takeo, looking at him with a skeptical expression of his own. Sitting next to Kirito was Seijirou, who is awkwardly trying to make the two teenagers friendly towards each other.

The older man coughs,

"I'll repeat myself: Takeo, this is Kazuto Kirigaya, otherwise known as Kirito - "

"Don't call me that in public!"

"The reason why I called him here is because he has dealt with Laughing Coffin in the past - "

"Laughing Coffin?"

 _ **Are they talking about the tattoo Death Gun has?**_

Both Kirito and Seijirou look at Takeo, who adopts a confused look on his face as he crossed his arms. Takeo only knew that Death Gun has a tattoo with a coffin with a nightmarish smile on his forearm, but he has never heard of a 'Laughing Coffin' before. While he speculated that the name was related to Death Gun, Takeo wasn't sure whether 'Laughing Coffin' was a group that Death Gun is affiliated with, or a previous alias that the unknown Player-Killer used to take up.

Seijirou starts to speak, only for Kirito to beat him to it. He explains,

"Laughing Coffin was an old Guild, made up of Player-Killers."

"Guild? What, like ALO or something?"

"No. This Guild came from Sword Art Online."

At the name of the first VRMMORPG, Takeo stood a little straighter in slight fear. While Takeo didn't play in Virtual-Reality until his first year in high school, he still knew about the tragic accident that befell upon the players that were in SAO; being forced to play in a game that can actually kill. And to learn that Death Gun has some sort of connection to SAO, it made Takeo wonder just what exactly was he dealing with. But, he manages to put aside his concerns with both Death Gun, Laughing Coffin, and Sword Art Online, so he could ask Kirito,

"How exactly do you know this much about 'Laughing Coffin' if they were this group in Sword Art Online?"

"Isn't it obvious? I was one of the players that was trapped inside SAO."

"...No fucking way."

 _ **Holy fucking shit.**_

Takeo ignores the adult women's glares, appalled by his language in public, and stares at Kirito with slight shock and admiration. While he was shocked that the teenage boy was a survivor os the SAO Incident, which made him feel slightly guilty about doubting him, Takeo was also impressed by how he managed to survive the whole ordeal.

Kirito simply nodded,

"It's true. Not only was I one of the players trapped inside SAO; I was also one of the players that helped take down Laughing Coffin."

That was when Kirito's expression darkened.

"...At least, that was what I thought until Seijirou called me."

Kirito pulls out his phone and reveals several notes that had all the information he had on Laughing Coffin. He places the phone in the center of the table, allowing Takeo to get a better look at the notes. The first thing Takeo notices was the image of Death Gun's tattoo staring at him. Kirito told Takeo,

"Back in SAO, several players including myself staged a raid on Laughing Coffin's base of operations. We managed to capture them...but we didn't come out unscathed."

Kirito clenches his fists, remembering about what happened during that day.

He continues,

"At first, I thought we managed to capture all of the players that were associated with Laughing Coffin..."

"That was until Death Gun showed up."

"...Yeah."

That was when Kirito took back his phone, and looks at Takeo directly in the eye.

"Now that this 'Death Gun' is revealed to be a surviving member of Laughing Coffin, I'll be taking over your place in GGO. This might sound - "

"Wait. Are you...are you telling me to just leave? Right after Death Gun called me out?"

Takeo looks at the two people in front of him with disbelief, not sure if he's hearing things correctly. Hyde was also on the same boat, wanting to beat the living Hell out of Death Gun for calling him and Takeo out in GGO. However, Seijirou tries to assure Takeo,

"If this is about Haru, I'll still make sure that you get custody over her. Consider it - "

"This isn't about fucking custody over Haru! Death Gun _knows_ who I am! He fucking called me by my actual name!"

"I know. Kirito and myself will handle - "

"Fuck. That!"

 _ **Like Hell we're just going to back down!**_

Takeo stands up and slams both his fists on to the table, garnering the attention of everyone that was around him. He was still shocked by how Death Gun knowing his actual name, and that made Takeo wonder what else Death Gun knew about him. It was possible that Death Gun might know about Haru, and there was no way that Takeo was going to let that bastard anywhere near his little sister. Even if Seijirou could protect him and Haru, Takeo knew that Death Gun would find a way to hunt him down, Haru getting hurt in the crossfire.

This was personal for Takeo.

He told Seijirou,

"I'm finishing what I started; and take down Death Gun."

"Takeo, calm down - !"

"I'm not changing my mind. Don't forget - you called out to _me._ "

With that said, Takeo excuses himself from the cafe, and heads towards the parking lot where his bike was. As he got on his bike, Takeo notices another motorcycle that was parked next to his own. While Takeo admitted that the bike was a good model, he still favored his American-made motorcycle. Takeo was putting on his helmet before he heard Kirito's voice behind him.

"You're seriously planning on taking down Death Gun?"

Takeo turns around and sees Kirito sitting on the bike next to him, indicating that he was the owner of that bike. Still, he answers Kirito's question,

"Yeah. The son of a bitch might come after the people in my life. Like Hell I'm gonna sit back and watch."

Kirito, who was putting on his black driving-gloves, nodded at what Takeo was saying. If anyone in Kirito's life was endangered, and he was told to stand back, there was no way Kirito was going to accept that. For the sake of his wife, Asuna, or his daughter, Yui, Kirito would fight tooth and nail against anybody that might harm them. Both Takeo and Kirito started up their motorcycles and are about to part ways, but Kirito calls out to Takeo one last time before he left. He asks Takeo,

"Do you think you can really stop Death Gun by yourself?"

Much to his surprise, Takeo began to laugh. Takeo brushes away the hair that covered his right eye, revealing his orange eye to Kirito.

In a very different tone unlike before, 'Takeo' grins,

 **"That's the thing... _we're_ not alone."**

* * *

In Gun Gale Online - 

"Are you kidding me, Kong!?"

"I'm not kidding, Ebele! The Japanese server for GGO just announced that they're postponing the Bullet of Bullets!"

As soon as Takeo returned home, he messaged both Akio and Eiji to see if they were willing to kill some time by playing GGO together. After receiving confirmation from the both of them, Takeo quickly logged into the game, and waits for his friends in the SBC Glocken. After finally joining up with him, the three friends decided that they should go kill monsters at a hunting-ground that Eiji founded a long time ago. Thus, after killing random monsters for a few hours or so, they decided to take a small break.

Akio decided to set more traps for the monsters, juggling several grenades as he left the campsite that the three of them made. Afterwards, Eiji remembered something and immediately tells Takeo what he learned while he was on the social forums for GGO.

"Why would the server postpone the B.o.B.?"

"Apparently, ever since your return, everyone's been on edge and have been more focused on you rather than the tournament itself."

"I'm starting to feel like being a myth in GGO no longer has its perks."

 _ **Since when did being a myth have perks?**_

Takeo decides to ignore Hyde for the moment, noticing that Akio had return from setting up traps. He sits down next to Takeo, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, a large, sly grin was visible on his face. Takeo was confused by whatever Akio was thinking.

"What's with the look, AK?"

"Nothing...just wondering when exactly you and Sinon-chan got so close."

Simultaneously, Takeo's eyes widened in shock while Hyde began to laugh inside Takeo's head. As the black-haired teen tried to create a proper sentence, Akio's grin grew bigger and Eiji adopted a similar expression on his lips, enjoying the scene that was in front of him. Takeo shouted,

"What the Hell!? What makes you think I'm close with her?"

"Dude, everyone saw how the two of you come out of the same booth together."

"I didn't know she was in there!"

 _ **But you still got to see her in her underwear, Takeo!**_

Takeo mentally told Hyde to shut up, only to suddenly see Akio push a screen in front of his avatar's face. Takeo pushes the screen away from his face, and notices that the screen held a single image that made him blanch. Hyde's laughter increased when Takeo gawked at the image of Sinon and himself during their match, his hand wrapped around Sinon's waist, their faces nearly touching.

Takeo stuttered,

"W-What the fuck!? You took a picture!?"

"Everyone that was watching the match took a picture, and the rumors between the two of you spread!"

"Aw fucking Hell!"

Takeo groans into his hands, fearfully imagining how the female sniper he knew would react to the idea of her and Takeo as a couple. Even though he knew that sooner or later the rumors would die down, but Takeo still knew that Sinon wouldn't exactly be happy to know said-rumors. Thankfully, Takeo had no idea who exactly was Sinon, because if he did know Sinon IRL, then it would make things completely awkward for the two gamers. As if planned, Eiji places his arm around Takeo's other shoulder.

He smiles at Akio,

"AK, you and I both know that Ebele isn't interested in Sinon."

"Thank you - "

"It's because he's interested in a certain girl IRL."

"You motherfucker!"

Takeo proceeds to flip-off both Akio and Eiji, the two friends laughing as they high-five each other. Ever since they knew that Takeo was living in the same apartment-building as Shino Asada, Eiji and Akio made it their prime objective to tease their friend at every possible moment.

Takeo shouts,

"Shino-san and I are not like that!"

"But you guys live in the same apartment..."

"Apartment-building! It's completely different from an actual apartment!"

"Whatever you say, Takeo..."

"Suck a dick, both of you."

After deciding to ignore his friends, Takeo decides to check the time, wondering how much time had passed since the three of them started playing. He wasn't surprised to see that three hours had passed since they started playing, but Takeo decided that he played enough GGO for now. He tells both Akio and Eiji that he was going to logout, and proceeds to do so after his friends waved him goodbye, the two of them deciding to kill monsters a little longer before logging off themselves.

* * *

Takeo's Apartment - 

When Takeo removed his AmuSphere, his phone began to ring beside him. He grabs his phone, noticing that this was the third time that someone was trying to contact him. Confused, Takeo checks the Caller I.D., only for his confusion to turn into anger when he recognized who was calling him. He was nearly growling at this point, almost tempted to throw his phone against the wall, only to stop at the last second before answering the call. Takeo takes a deep breath before answering,

"Hello...oba-san."

Chiho Nakano was Takeo's aunt, the mother of Akemi and the current guardian of Haru, Takeo's little sister. Despite being her nephew, Chiho only saw Takeo as a freak that ended up in a mental-facility after the deaths of his parents. She made sure to separate Haru from him, and whenever Takeo would visit, she made sure to keep such visits timed and limited. Despite wanting to insult his aunt, Takeo withheld his tongue, knowing that if he were to disrespect her, she might limit even more time Takeo spends with Haru. In a forced, friendly tone, he asked,

"What can I do for you?"

 _"As much as it irritates me, Haru wanted to make sure that you could spend time with her tomorrow."_

"Of course I'll spend time with her. After all, I am her brother."

 _"You make it sound like it would do her some good..."_

 ** _It's better than her spending time with you, you dusty bitch..._**

That was when Takeo heard Chiho's phone being shifting, as if someone else wanted to speak to Takeo. After a few moments, Takeo heard a younger, childlike voice call out to him.

 _"Onii-chan?"_

"Haru..."

Takeo felt a small smile form on his lips when he heard his little sister speak to him. After the incident, and after forced live with her aunt while he was stuck in a mental-facility, Haru never held any ill-intentions towards Takeo. Despite Takeo being the reason why both siblings were orphaned, Haru still sees him as his only family that she actually likes, apart from Akemi.

Haru asked her brother,

 _"We'll spend the whole day together, right?"_

"Of course! I...I wouldn't want it any other way."

 _"I'll see you tomorrow, Onii-chan! Bye!"_

"Bye...Haru."

That was when the phone-call ended, with Takeo sighing heavily soon after. Takeo looks around his apartment and began to clean it, knowing that his aunt would critique how he lived while dropping off Haru. In the middle of cleaning up, Takeo heard someone knocking at his front door. He walks up to the door, opens it, and his confused when he sees Shino Asada standing before it. Before he opened his mouth, Takeo remembered the earlier conversation he had with Eiji and Akio, his cheeks faintly turning red.

Ignoring the sniggering of Hyde, Takeo greets Shino and invites her to his apartment.

"A-Asada-san! You wanted to see me?"

Shino, who also had a faint blush, nodded while unconsciously entering Takeo's apartment. Last night, Shino was still flustered when she considered Takeo to be one of the people she'd fight for. She didn't have anything against her classmate/neighbor, but she wasn't sure if she could consider Takeo someone that close to her.

However, Shino still remembers how Takeo helped her the other night, so she figured that she could repay Takeo in some way. Before she could tell Takeo what she was thinking, Shino looks around his apartment, noticing how filthy it was, and asked him,

"Do you...need help cleaning?"

"No! I mean, no, you're my guest - "

"It's alright, I did interrupt you while you were cleaning."

Without another word, Shino began to help Takeo clean his apartment. As they cleaned, Shino asked Takeo,

"I'm gonna assume that you've never cleaned your apartment, right?"

"Not until now that is..."

"Any reason why? I mean, there's nothing wrong with tidying this place, I just feel like you could've done it at anytime; so why now?"

"Simple. My little sister is visiting me."

That was when Shino nearly dropped the trash that were in her hands, surprised by this new piece of information about Takeo. While she knew that she wasn't close enough to Takeo to know he has a sister, Shino still felt something inside of her when Takeo never mentioned any of this to her. She said,

"I...I never knew you had a sister."

"Not that many people do, considering that my aunt has custody over her."

"What? She keeps you away from your own sister?"

"Yep. Haru - my sister - is someone I would fight tooth and nail for..."

At that statement, Shino looked at Takeo with newfound respect, possibly realizing that his sister might be the source of his strength. But, that was when she remembered her conversation with Ebele, realizing that it was similar to what Takeo said just now. Before Shino could say anything else, it was Takeo's turn to ask Shino a question.

"So...I still want to know why you visited me."

"O-Oh! I...just wanted to show my gratitude for what you said to me the other night."

"What I...? Oh. Asada-san, you don't have to."

"N-No! I want to! I mean, I made things awkward between us after all..."

"It's okay, you don't - actually..."

That was when Takeo began to contemplate something inside his head, muttering to himself about the pros and cons of whatever it is that he was thinking. There were even times that Takeo would remain silent for a few minutes, which made Shino concerned, making her wonder why Takeo would talk to himself. That was when Takeo looks at Shino, and asks her,

"If you don't mind...do you want to spend tomorrow with my sister and I?"

"Hold on! I know I wanted to show gratitude, I don't want to intrude between you and your sister. It wouldn't be right!"

"It's okay, my sister doesn't mind if someone I knew tags along. Besides, I'm kinda not sure what to do with Haru, so I figured that you could help me out. But if you don't want to..."

Sensing the change in Takeo's tone, Shino immediately accepted his request.

"Okay! I'll...I'll tag along with you and your sister, if you're sure you don't mind."

"I don't mind, and neither would Haru! Thank you...I mean it."

"Don't mention it...so it's a date then?"

After realizing what the two of them promised was basically a date, both Takeo and Shino's faces turned red as the two of them continued to finish cleaning the apartment. Takeo mentally berated himself, wondering what went through his mind when asking Shino to hang out with him tomorrow. While that was happening, Shino was also berating herself, asking herself why she had to describe a day with Takeo and his sister as a 'date'; it wasn't a date if there was a third person with them!

After a few minutes, both Takeo and Shino finished cleaning up, and Shino decided to leave Takeo's apartment. Before she left the apartment, Shino tells Takeo,

"You're a good brother...if you're willing to go that far for your sister."

"I mean...I bet you have someone you'd go that far for, right, Asada-san?"

"...Yeah. I do."

With that said, Shino finally left Takeo's apartment, with the teenage boy falling back onto his couch as he groans into his hands.

"Oh man...what am I doing?"

 _ **You asked a girl on a date. I see nothing wrong with that, Takeo!**_

Ignoring Hyde, Takeo proceeds to head for his bed, trying to sleep before tomorrow comes. While Takeo wouldn't deny that Shino was rather cute, he wasn't sure what exactly was the relationship she had with Shinkawa-san, considering that the two of them were always together. Then again, Takeo felt like Shino was someone that he found quite similar to himself. He muttered to himself,

"Asada-san...liking _me_? As if that would happen..."

* * *

 **AN: And that was the eighth chapter, tell me what you guys thought about it in the reviews!**

 **Now, I feel like I could've done better with this chapter, but I'm not sure; so tell me whether or not this chapter was good. With that said, let me explain why I feel like this chapter could've been imrpoved. The main issue I had with this chapter was the whole interaction between Takeo and Sinon.**

 **Obviously, I'm trying to form some sort of connection between the two characters, but I feel like I didn't do a good job doing so.**

 **Anyways, even though Takeo was given an out, and protection from Death Gun, Takeo decides that he was going to be the one to stop Death Gun. There's this small idea I have for when Takeo meets Death Gun in the B.o.B., so be prepared for what is going to happen in the later chapters. Speaking of which, for the next two chapters, it's going to be filler chapters, with the third chapter after those two going to finally show the Bullet of Bullets.**

 **The next chapter will obviously be the 'date' between Shino, Takeo and his sister, Haru.**

 **If you have any suggestions for what you want to see in the next chapter, do not be afraid to leave your suggestions in the reviews. Also, know that at the end of the next chapter, Shinkawa would confront Takeo about he and Shino's 'date'. I plan on doing a confrontation between these two, just to slowly show how unstable Shinkawa is whenever someone is trying to take away 'his' Asada.**

 **With that said, thank you all for reading this chapter while I create the next chapter.**

 **See ya later!**


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